Devil of Steel
by Retribrutus
Summary: Born with strange powers follow along with Michael Miller as he forges his own path of heroics through the crime filled streets of L.A. as he's soon to find that all of his conflicts will bleed deeper than just the simple petty crimes that are committed in the eyes of the public.
1. The Arch-Demon drops in (1)

**Chapter 1** : **The Arch-Demon drops in (1)**

* * *

It was morning, and just before the alarm clock could ring a hand quickly slapped the snooze button, and in record time too. Usually, for Michael Miller, he would be a bit too late to remember that he forgot to turn off his alarm clock.

Michael Miller was just you're everyday average African-American teenager, he had a well-toned body with short and curly black hair along with a pair of lively brown eyes that you wouldn't find on a teen at the crack of dawn. He wore a black long-sleeved hoodie with blue jeans and red sneakers.

The mouthwatering aroma of bacon and eggs filled the kitchen along with the sizzling smell of oil on the pan that's cooling on the stove. His mom would always come back home from S.T.A.R. Labs exhausted, so he begrudgingly took it upon himself to take care of the morning agendas around the house.

And for once, he's glad to be running things today.

Returning upstairs, he sneaks up to her room and slowly opens the door. "Hey, mom…" He was only met with the thunderous noise of heavy snoring, he took caution entering the room, she was always one of those messy workers who would leave their surroundings littered with books, documents and the occasional empty test tube here and there.

Looking over the bunched-up sheets on the bed, he leaned over and shook her awake, "Mom, it's time to wake up." She incoherently mumbled some words ranging from chemicals on the periodic table. It amazes even him that she would still stay focused with work in her sleep makes him proud to have such a focused mother. Too bad she wasn't a morning person, and with one last push, he was able to drive her out from beneath the bedsheets.

"Morning…" And there she laid wide awake and rubbing the morning glory out of her eyes, Samantha Miller, his mom. She was quite the attractive lady considering that she about to be in her mid-thirties soon as she has the same dark skin and brown eyes that she passed down to Michael save for her long straight black hair.

"I already have breakfast ready for you and I made sure to hang up your clothes in the bathroom. Warning, please don't put them on before getting in the shower like last time." Little mistakes like this was apparent when his mother wasn't at full brain capacity, and that's just what he wanted.

"Yeah, yeah…" Samantha muttered as she sat up and blindly searched for her glasses on her nightstand before Michael just goes up and gives it to her, "Thanks." He just cheekily smiles at her as she carries her glasses and towels into the bathroom with Michael leading her by hand. She wore her usual blue dress shirt and jeans with her lab coat neatly folded over her arm.

Impatiently hovering over his wristwatch, he kept looking out the window and back upstairs. Releasing a sigh of relief, he saw his mother stumble downstairs in a daze as she's still trying to fight sleep. Once again, he leads her to table and presents to her breakfast, "Eggs and bacon, enjoy."

"Damn, dude, that smells good." Samantha breathed in the aroma after folding her lab coat on her chair and having a seat. She didn't waste a moment as she dug into the meal. A girl's got to eat, as they say and his mother wasn't the exception.

Looking at his watch again, Michael quickly glanced at the window to see just the empty urban streets of Rialto just outside of their house, but not too far away, he could hear the sounds of an engine and constant chattering approach.

"Is something wrong?" He whips his head back to spot his mother inquisitively raising an eyebrow at him.

"No, no, its nothing. It's just a beautiful day, isn't it, Mom?"

"Mmmhmm…"

Oh no, not the "mmmhmmm" that's a sign that she's catching on. Quick, he needed a distraction and fast!

"Oh my god, a cockroach!"

"Michael, we've lived in a cheap apartment before. Cockroaches shouldn't be a surprise to you or me." Samantha casually took a sip of water.

"Y-Yeah, you're right."

Curses, he should have known that wouldn't have worked on her, she's a woman of steel after all. Living in that filthy apartment in Metropolis before moving to California has hardened her. His skin still crawls after recollecting a past memory of her squashing those little bastards with her bare hands. She was truly a formidable opponent, sadly for her, he knew her weakness.

"Hey, mom, last night I think I saw something enter the house." He moved around looking under the surrounding furniture.

"No, you can't have a pet Raccoon." Samantha groaned.

"First off, they're called Trash Pandas and second, I don't think it was one."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Because I didn't hear footsteps just some slithering." Michael smirked as the sound of a gasp escaped her lips. Hook, line and sinker! Turning back, he placed on a worried façade, "Is something the matter?" Based on how he found her curled up in a ball on her seat, he'd have to say that was super effective.

"D-Did you say slither?"

The sound of honking was close by, he needed to work fast.

"Yeah, I think you might have let in a garden snake last night, but it should be easy to find if we both work together."

"A garden s-s-snake?" Samantha's teeth chattered.

"Yeah…and it wasn't your run of the mill garden snake, it seemed much longer than your average snake and big too. Heck, I wouldn't even call it a garden snake, it could be something else." Michael backed up to the covert and reached out for a jar that he prepared for the occasion.

"Don't be ridiculous, a snake that big couldn't possibly be down here in the…" The sound of rattling filled the kitchen, and the pale look on Sam's face brought a big grin onto Michael's face that he so desperately tried to hide. "Suburbs…"

"Well, what do you know, a Rattlesnake…" Michael nervously chuckled as he continued to shake the jar filled with rice.

"…" The frozen look on Samantha's face was priceless as she sat in place for a few seconds before instantly gathering her things and putting on her lab coat. "THANKS FOR THE FOOD, SWEETIE, I LOVE YOU! AND MAKE SURE TO HAVE A FUN DAY AT SCHOOL AND TELL JEFFREY THAT I SAID HI! OKAY, BYE!"

It all happened so fast, her fear was able to get to her and quickly drive her out of the house and into car as she drove out of the drive way like a mad rat out of hell, and Michael couldn't be anymore proud of that achievement.

He immediately closes the door and watches as his school bus drives in near his block to wait for approximately three minutes, letting out a honk or two as an indication to hurry. Finally, the vehicle drives off no longer taking the chance to wait for a single student and heads off to school.

Letting out a victory scream, Michael hops onto the couch and moves his arms about in a weird from of victory dance. He had finally managed to skip a day of school, and now he can finally have more time and freedom for himself rather than be cramped up all day in school.

Beeping in his pocket, Michael pulls out his cellphone and answers, "Jeff, dude, mission accomplished! How are things on your end?"

["She was onto me…"]

Michael busted out laughing at his friend's misfortune. Compared to his mother, Jeffery's mom wasn't so easy to pull the rug over her eyes, she's way too strict and probably wouldn't be deterred in the morning. After all, being a Doctor pretty much gives her some leeway to better handle exhaustion and drowsiness unlike his mother.

["Don't laugh!"]

"I'm sorry, but how did you get caught?" Michael covered his mouth to prevent any laughter, but the spasms would come out in the form of quick little gasps.

["W-Well, you see… I-I-I-! Ugh, I was weak…"]

"So, you gave in, eh?"

[Yeah…]

"Its fine, it happens to the best of us, except me because I actually duped my insanely smart mom. Now I can spend the rest of the day doing whatever I want without worrying about dumb old school. You still have my homework?" A contingency plan since he did foresee something like this occurring.

[Yes…]

"Good, make sure to turn it in for me, I already called in sick, so it would be nice to show that I'm a diligent worker in such trying times." He pretended to sniffle and sneeze.

[Right, so what are you going to do all day?]

"Have a break at HQ. Play some games and eat some snacks." Gathering his things, he strapped on his backpack and helmet as he wheeled his bike from out of the garage.

[You sure that you don't want to just cut your losses now and come in late?]

"Pfft! Heck no, I don't want to stay cramped in class while a perfectly good waste away. Besides if I go now then little miss "Join the Decathlon" would just pester me again as always and get on my case!" Michael explained out of frustration, usually school was such a bore to him and having some classmate pester him to join a boring club that answered high leveled questions only rotten his experiences in high school.

[I don't know man, I think that we should consider it. I mean, Jade is asking us, and it would put us on her good side.]

"I don't care about that, if she's not on my good side then there's no way that will happen, dude." Michael groaned as he closed the garage door, "If she starts getting nosy about me just tell her I was sick, and you would be more than happy to bring me my homework from class."

[I'll do my best, and hey…Mike…]

"Yeah, what?"

[Try not to bust my sound systems if you get the urge to test out your…]

A smile etched itself upon Michael's face as he tried his best not to recall the memory of how he fried a few of Jefferey's stereos due to one of his "accidents".

"I only promise to try."

[That still doesn't reassure me, man. I just finished putting together a new surround sound system with parts that I found at the Junkyard, I don't want to spend another 6 moths replacing it.]

"Bye, Jeff." Michael chuckled.

[Mich-!]

That was enough of that. After pocketing his turned off phone, Michael began his lovely ride through the streets of his neighborhood towards town. Rialto was a quiet town of sorts, it was in the county of San Bernardino, and generally a nice place to live. The people there are leagues above kinder than citizens in Los Angeles and the two locations are only about two hours away from each other.

Waving hello and good morning to his neighbors, Michael happily took in a deep breath of the morning air. After they moved from Metropolis 13 years ago, he'd been a real part of the community and knew tons of faces, at least around his neighborhood. His mom wouldn't have let him go out any further until he was 12 and proved to himself to be a respectable kid out in public on his own. Well, almost respectable but respectable nonetheless.

Passing by the front lawn of a gardening old Latin woman wearing a sun hat, he noticed the sudden look of fear on the woman's face as soon as he rode past her. It was one of his neighbors, Mrs. Rivera.

Like he was approaching a frightened cat, Michael shakily waved and wished her a good morning. The only response that he received was a quick shake of her head as she rushed into her home fumbling with a plethora of gardening tools while screaming, "Niño del diablo!"

Sucking in his lips, Michael went on his way. That was an example why he couldn't leave the neighborhood, and still to this day, he can't even hold a conversation with the sweet old lady, who was the first neighbor to welcome him and his mother into the neighborhood.

Cycling through the neighborhood into town was painfully slow for him despite it taking only fifteen minutes to get there. His mom discouraged him from travelling by foot and warned him to never overdo it with his biking either, so the casual pedaling was a bit grating on his nerves, but at least its better than being holed up in school.

The town retained some of its old-fashioned historical buildings that have been continually used since its past. Nothing too phenomenal or prehistoric but just old houses and museums along with some old retro shops that sold old movies ranging from CDs to VHS tapes. Even Michael had to admit that was old since he owned a VHS cassette as well.

Cycling past the vintage television store, and yes, they even sold those with the televisions facing the windows for potential shoppers, he sees Los Angeles' city hall extremely lavished with some recent renovations and standing in front of it was a large podium with a holographic message floating atop of it displaying the words "Vault Co.". Looking at the huge crowd amazed, Michael focused in on the man standing in the midst of it all and his name was...well, he wasn't really caught up in all of the specifics of politics of business.

An old couple passing by him manage to sneak a peek at the news and began talking about it.

"Another helpful donation to the city by Vault Corporation. The City Hall hasn't looked that beautiful in years, right, dear?" The old woman asked her husband.

"Feh, just a bunch of poppycock to me…"

Listening in, Michael quietly laughed to himself, who says poppycock anymore?

"All I'm seeing is just another generation of men and women waste their lives by relying too much on newfangled junk that company's giving to them." The old man spat.

"Pish-posh! You have to admit that it done some good for Los Angeles, I mean, the streets are way cleaner than before ever since Vault Co. created those adorable Social Service Bots that now support dangerous jobs."

"Too bad, those dangerous jobs were well paid and earned. With more robots around helping them do jobs that they trained to do, then they lose pay and less workers will be hired." The old dude's point had Michael agreeing with him.

"Then what about the grants and funds sent to the LA Police Department thanks to Vault Co.? They've gotten so many new equipment to help them chase crime." The old woman's optimism slowly warmed up on Michael as he slowly leaned towards her side of the argument.

"True, but have they been able to control those hoodlums since then? To be honest, I think the crime rate up there has only risen and that's saying something." The old man countered.

"How come you have to be such a Debbie Downer all of the time? The young man just wants to help the city after the death of his father, wouldn't you say that's honorable?" The old woman asked, thoughtfully.

Reeling back a little, the old man gave in and said, "I-I guess the kid is looking out for their best interests, but I still worry that they're becoming a bit too dependent on him and his company to fixing problems. I'm just glad that out here, we can still be able to take care of ourselves without someone holding our hands all of the time." The old man was able to settle their argument by lovingly placing an arm over his wife's shoulder and walk off leaving Michael to glance one more time at TV screens now showing the Mayor of Los Angeles and the CEO of Vault Co.

Looking closely, he noticed that the CEO was almost around his age, huh, what a strange world. Almost anything could happen in it. Welp, there were things to do and games to play, he needed to pedal his way to the old warehouses near the abandoned railroads. No one ever goes down there anymore making it the perfect place for Michael and Jefferey to hang out without interruption from their moms.

There's also the fact that he needed to hurry and avoid the police, otherwise, he'd be caught for ditching school.

"No, stop it!" A shrill cry reached his ears as he was just about to cross the corner of the dry cleaners. Looking around, he spotted a trio of kids at the park, out of the three kids was little girl crying as two boys her age took aim at a hissing cat up on a tree with airsoft BB guns.

Taking a deep breath, Michael hopped off his bike and walked over to the park. He made sure to lock his bike to the fence just in case, the area wasn't teeming with crime, but there were still petty crimes like bike thefts going on. Seeing the situation play out from up close, the girl was in tears as she tried to stop the other boys from toying around with her cat.

"Stop it, you're scaring Fisk!" The girl cried.

"Who cares, it's just some stupid cat!" The boy wearing a cap laughed.

"Hey, watch me get a bullseye by hitting its eye." The other boy laughed as nearly struck the cat's eye but shot its forehead causing the animal in question to reel back in pain. "Crap, almost!"

"I said stop it!" The girl shoved the boy much to his annoyance as he pushed the girl back, harder. The poor child lost her balance and was sure to fall had Michael not catch her on time.

"Hey, kids, what's going on here?" Michael asked, a bit peeved with the two boys tormenting the cat. He was told by his mom that kids do act a bit cruel at this age, but this was ridiculous.

"Nothing, so butt out, asswipe." The boy wearing the cap spat.

"Asswipe? Wow, you have one dirty mouth, kid. Do you kiss your mom with that mouth?" Michael retorted.

"Nope, but he does with your mom!" The two boys high fived each other.

Damn that was a good comeback… But he had to stay focused, turning back to the girl in his arms, he noticed her long wavy black hair and red ribbon tying it into a pony tail. Her adorable face was stained in tears and mucus from witnessing the harsh treatment that her cat endured.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Fisk! Fisk, he's my cat! They're hurting him! Please stop them, mister!" The girl desperately bounced around and pleaded for help and before Michael could reply, one of the boys noticed and took aim at her.

"You're still trying to bother us? Go take a hike already!" The boy shot his BB gun at the girl, but before the airsoft bullet could reach her, Michael had already made his move to stand in front of her as a shield without even flinching once the bullet made contact with his chest and bounced off.

"What the-!?" The boy gasped.

"Its one thing to aim your little toy weapon at a cat, but another thing to aim it at a girl. Neither is right in the first place but going to extremes is definitely pushing it." That was almost too close, the girl would have been hit at point blank range in the face.

"Looks like we have a badass here." The boy with the cape taunted. Seriously, how old are these two, they basically sound like a couple of gangsters that you find in LA.

"That girl's been pissing us off so move or we'll make you move." The two boys aimed their guns at Michael, who remained steadfast and crossed his arms.

"Make me." Michael shrugged.

"You asked for it!" The two boys chuckled as air soft bullets went flying as they rapidly pulled their triggers.

"Mister, no!" The girl cried but was surprised once she saw Michael stand nonchalantly through the BB guns' heavy pelting of bullets. It didn't even faze him in the slightest, to him, they merely felt like small hard to notice raindrops. Soon enough the two boys laughing noticed this and began to panic once they ran out of bullets.

One of them futilely tried to pull the trigger a few times but to no avail.

"Ya done yet?" Michael asked with his arms still crossed.

The boys looked to one another before one of them picked up a nearby stone and prepared to throw it. This was just getting pathetic, he knew that kid wouldn't understand this since he's too caught up in his frustration but throwing a rock isn't going to do anything if pressurized BB gun bullets couldn't hurt him. Plus, the distance was too far, the boy was still too young to have the actual strength to do so.

"Die!"

From that cry alone, that was when Michael realized that the boy wasn't aiming for him, but the cat up on the tree, he was more than close enough to throw it up at good enough angle as he twisted his posture mid-way into pretending to throw it at him.

Before the stone could leave the boy's hand, he realized that it was gone and looked confused before spotting it in Michael's clenched hand. This led to their expressions being contorted in panic with how the older boy was able to get the stone from the gap between them.

As for Michael, he was far past mildly annoyed with the two brats. So, after spilling the pebbles of the smashed rock in hand, he started to approach them with one step. The boys took this as their sign to turn tail and run, but a pair of hands grabbing the two of them by shoulder begged to differ. Michael's grip was considerably strong to keep them in place, they couldn't even struggle as they were forced to face the teen, who now wore a forced smile on his face.

"Listen here boys, I don't know if your parents have taught you anything about not being little monsters, so I'll lay it down extra thick for the two of you, so you won't forget." Forcibly grabbing their heads to direct their fearful eyes to his face, Michael wore a grin on his face. Then with a pop of the bone, that grin began to get distorted as the sounds of his bone cracking only furthered along with the growing terror etched onto the two boys' faces.

"Big Monsters eat little monsters…" And his smile wasn't the only thing that freaked them out, his low voice that was deeply distorted also freaked them out too. The two boys teared up and froze from the horrific sight. He took a slight whiff of the air, one of them wet himself. Letting go of them, Michael kept on wearing his one of kind smile before winking, "Bye."

And from there the two boys ran off crying for mommy after being taught a valuable lesson from a kind stranger, who doesn't pull his punches.

"That ought to teach them a lesson or scar them for life, either works well for me…" Michael sighed, but quickly covered his mouth once the girl tackled him into a hug. He didn't want to freak her out, so he made quick work of putting the lower half of his face back to normal.

"Mister, thank you! Thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it, now about your cat." After fixing his mouth back to normal, he moves the girl aside and scales the tree to successfully acquire the animal and give it back to her safely, "There you go, Fisk, no need to send me sleeping with the fishes."

"Huh, what do you mean, mister? Fisk isn't going to hurt you…" The girl blinked.

"Oh, nothing…" Bad time for a Marvel comic reference, he only curses his luck that Jefferey wasn't here with him to get it.

"I wouldn't know what I'd do if I had lost Fisk." The girl sniffled.

"You really like that cat don't you, uh…what's your name?" Michael nervously chuckled.

"I'm not allowed to give my name to strangers since my brother said so, but since you're Fisk's hero, I guess I can grace you with it."

Sheesh, are all kids these days speak so sassy, Michael wondered to himself.

"My name is Rose." The girl then presented her yawning cat, "And this is Fisk."

"Why hello there, Rose and Fisk." Michael squatted down to be at the girl's level of height, "My name is Michael, its nice to meet you."

"And you too, Mr. Michael."

"So, you mind telling me why you didn't have any supervisor to watch you here at the park?" He found it odd that a girl her age was wandering the park on her own, granted it would seem strange to him since he's always been under his mother's watch.

"That's because I was getting tired inside the apartment complex, so I decided to take a much-deserved break." Rose giggled.

"And how did that go?" Michael gestured to the tree and the left behind BB guns in the grass.

"…T-That was…" Rose hesitated.

"Rose, its dangerous for someone as young as you to be out here alone. You could have put you and Fisk in a lot of danger and those two brats could have been the lesser evils compared to what other disasters the world has to offer." He may have been exaggerating a bit, but its technically true, "Now shouldn't you be in school?"

"I'm homeschooled by Big Brother." She replied.

"I see…"

"Mr. Michael, shouldn't you be in school?"

Thinking it over, Michael shook his head, "Nope, I'm too cool for school."

"Lame, that didn't sound cool at all…" Rose was unamused, "You probably ditched, right?"

"…I'm starting to see how all kids are cruel…" Michael sniffled as he stood, "C'mon, I'm taking you home…" He offered her his hand.

"But…" The girl hesitated. It didn't sit right with him that she was out in public all by herself, so he decided to spend some of his free time taking her home. Though it wouldn't be that easy to persuade her into coming with him.

"You're not going to get in trouble, alright? I'll take you home before your parents or brother realizes that you were gone, okay? Plus, I may need someone, whose as brave as you to help me since I'm such a goof with directions. I may have been Fisk's hero, but technically so were you since you valiantly fought to protect him." And if that wasn't heroics then he wouldn't know what is. Thankfully his words were able to reach her as she happily nodded with a big smile on her cute face. If he could, he would pinch those cheeks into oblivion.

"Okay! You know what, Mr. Michael? You sort of remind me of my big brother." Taking her hand, Michael led Rose to the fence that he chained his bike.

"Really, is that a compliment?"

"Of sorts." Rose shrugged and continued to hum to herself.

Seriously, just what is up with kids these days, the world was really going through strange times, but maybe this could be a good thing at least. Plus, it felt nice for him to help someone out. Just another perk of being free from scho-. His bike was gone.

His lock was broken into and his bike was gone. Someone took his bike, HIS bike! The bike that he slaved over the countless months to put together was gone just like that.

"My baby…" Michael cried as he nursed his broken lock. That was until he noticed something off about it, the metal had been perfectly cut. For bike stealers, it was natural for them bring pliers or a chainsaw, but the looped metal had nothing chipped on it, the cut was too perfect.

"Mister Michael, are you ok-hmrph!" Suddenly the muffled cries of Rose reached his ears along with the hissing of her cat, Fisk.

"Huh, Rose?" Michael whipped his head around to spot a black van across the other end of the street as two tough looking men dressed up in biker gang leather stuffed Rose and Fisk into the trunk before giving him the warm, welcoming middle finger as the van suddenly takes off.

"Oh, you sons of bitches! I should beat all of your asses!" Running after the van, Michael looks in question as the van quickly stops, and from the heavy shouting inside of it, he could tell that there was a dispute going on before the van doors open to reveal his bike being thrown out of it. So, they were the thieves!

Just as he was about to grab his bike in order to pick up some speed, some random stranger on the street picks it up and says, "Oh, boy, a free bike! It must be lucky day!"

"Hey, jerkwad, that's my bi-!" Michael was about to get up in the mofo's face but remembered the Black Van leaving in the distance. Not even weighing the decision, he angrily pointed at the stranger and growled, "I'll be back for you later…uh…"

"Timothy, my name is Timothy." The stranger introduced himself.

"Timothy, really?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, I'll be back for your ass later, Timothy…" Michael gagged, he just couldn't make it sound threatening after hearing such a lame name. Who would even come up with the name Timothy to use at all? Since he couldn't use his bike, he only had one option left.

* * *

Tied up and afraid, Rose trembled in the presence of her kidnappers. They were tall, covered in tattoos and really scary looking. The two sitting up front were more tough looking when compared to the slim one in the back watching her.

"Are we sure that we nabbed the right girl?"

"Matched the photo that the boss gave us. I'm just surprised how easy it was for us to find her out in the open like that. This job was a cinch."

The two thugs laughed.

"It would have been better if we had kept that bike." Whined the slim thug from the back.

"We only came for the girl and nothing else. We'd have to worry about the cops trying to locate it if we just stole it." The driving thug said.

"Oh, please. I would have pawned it after taking it apart." The slim thug pulled out a knife handle before pressing its button to admire the emitted heat blue blade, "With this baby, I won't have to resort to picking locks ever again."

"Careful with that, we don't want you accidentally hurting the kid back there."

"Oh relax, I'm a capable gu-ouch!" Fisk the cat begged to differ as it took its chance to dig its claws into the thug's knee. Angrily picking the cat up by the scruff of its neck, the slim thug angrily growled at it as the animal kept swiping its claws for his face. "Stupid furball!"

"Fisk!" Rose cried, her fear getting overshadowed by her worry for Fisk. He was the first present that her older brother gave to her, she had to do something. It's her responsibility to protect him otherwise she'd be spitting in her brother's face.

"What, you can't handle a little puddy-tat?" The driving thug laughed.

"Not funny! Do we even need this pest around because I'm chucking it out?" The slim thug rubbed his bleeding leg.

"We only came for the girl, so go for it." Rose's heart sank upon hearing that.

"Nice…" The slim thug opened the doors of the moving van.

"Please, wait! Don't hurt Fisk!" Rose pleaded.

"Don't worry little miss, he won't feel a thing after this." The slim thug joked and with one might swing of his arm, he flung the cat out onto the hot streets of Rialto.

"FISK!" Rose shrieked.

"And that's that." The slim thug dusted himself off and closed the door.

"How could you!" Tears streamed down the sides of Rose's cheeks as she angrily shouted the lot of them. And just before the slim thug could mock her for crying over a stupid cat, something heavily crashed onto the van's roof that it made a huge indent in the metal surface, which forced the driving thug to put on the brakes. Thankfully, they were making their way to the highway with the route surrounded by abandoned lots.

"Now what the hell was that?" The thug in the passenger seat left the car and checked the roof to spot the same cat that his associate threw out of the van hissing at him, "No fucking way…"

"What is it?" The slim thug asked.

"You guys are not going to believe this, it's the cat from earli-aaah!" The cat's ire drove it to pounce on the thug's face and claw his eyes out.

"No way is that-!?" The slim thug gasped.

"Fisk, you're okay!" Rose happily cheered.

"Toss that fuzzball aside and just get back in." The thug in the driver's seat shook his head but looked up at the huge indent on the roof, wondering how something as small as that cat could do that.

"I-It's easy for you to say-aaugh! It's trying to rip out my tong-aaaah!" The attacked thug cried out in pain as he moved around the van trying to pull the cat off his face. The slim thug only laughed at the more muscular thug's misfortune even he didn't have that much trouble dealing with the furry rodent.

Soon enough the screams settled down then came silence. Hold up silence? That was when the thug in driver's seat got curious as he exited his car to check things out. He made sure to tell the slimmer thug to keep an eye on the girl. Circling around the van, he clicked his tongue upon finding a trail of oil coming out from underneath the van, he looked back a bit farther to see if the trail began back around town. He should have known that renting such a cheap van would come with its defects.

Pushing the thought aside, he continued to circle around the van to the other side and there he spotted the other thug strewn across the asphalted ground of the street. But the strange thing was, his upper body was dragged underneath the bottom of the car. Hesitant, he knelt next to his companion and began pulling him.

"Hey, man, you okay?" Soon enough his words were caught up in his throat as he reeled back from the sight. The unconscious thug's face was covered in scratches and bumpy bruises as his smashed-up nose bleed out. "What happened to you?" That was when suddenly something heavy landed upon the edge of the van's roof as a horned shadow appeared above the surprised thug.

Hands shaking, the thug slowly reached for the gun holstered in his leather jacket. His skin crawled as he felt the burning pair of eyes glare down at him, swallowing his fears, he pulled out his gun and wildly shot up above. But the bullets made no contact with his intended target, they were gone.

"You'd best come out if you know what's good for you! I swear to god, I will put one between your eyes if you even think about getting the jump on me!"

A pebble was thrown by his foot that made him jump for moment followed by the hissing of said cat that hid beneath the van.

"Why you little-!" First the cat had to go, it was already a nuisance from the start. Aiming his gun, he clicked back the hammer and began to pull the trigger. But before his finger could even twitch, a big blur zoomed from around the other side of the van to smash him into the vehicle's metallic side. Pinned with his arms forced behind his back the thug dropped his gun. His assailant was incredibly strong, it felt like his arm would snap like a toothpick if he gave them further reason to. Stopping his futile resistance, the thug heaved out a pathetic cry, "O-Okay, I give! I give!"

Spun around, the assailant forced the thug to see them face to face as the big man tried to catch his breath, which was hard once the assailant's claws shredded through the fabric of his jacket to grab onto his collar.

Getting a good look of his attacker, the thug's face contorted into terror as his eyes gazed into the white abyss.

"D-D-D-!" Within that moment, a fist slammed the thug's head back into the van with incredible force that it created a big indent of the back of his head into the van's interior.

Frightened, Rose looked to the slim thug, who was more than annoyed with the situation. He had no idea what was going on out there and was getting sick of babysitting the brat.

"What's taking you assholes so…long?" The slim thug gulped as he saw ten red jagged claws rip into the metal doors of the van before ripping them out. The sudden bright light from outside leaked into the van, momentarily blinding the slim thug as he was violently thrown out of the vehicle as he got bitter taste of the road headfirst before panicking to reach for his knife.

"Y-Yo, you'd best back off, man! I know how to use this!"

After activating the blue energy blade on the handle, he turned his sight back to his assailant with the same wide eyes as Rose, who could only see the back of her probable savior.

Taking one heavy step forward in their red sneakers, the assailant released a mouthful of steam from out their jagged mouth. The harsh rays of the sun shined down on their thick red skin and horns as the muscles in their arms and legs tense as they prepared to engage their target.

"W-What are you!?" The slim thug whimpered in fear at the sight of the creature.

"…" Tilting its head, the creature's jagged mouth widened into a distorted grin with a sickening bone cracking noise as it darkly said in its distorted voice, "Your mother …"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading everyone, I hoped that you enjoyed this first chapter.**

 **I know that this story may have came out of nowhere, but I've suddenly been enthralled by the DC Universe, so I decided to make my own hero story. Its still the beginning, so I'm still trying to find an identity for this story for me, so I can learn to write with ease like DxD.**

 **Like I said with how I'm making my own hero story, I intend to make it connected with other heroes of the DC universe as it slowly expands on its own new Earth with some changes here and there.**

 **So, wish me luck as I try to dig my claws into the expanse history of DC and do my research for future chapters. I'm still new to this DC stuff so please take it easy on me, okay?**

 **Also, for reference for how his face looks like in "that" form. Just look up Naruto's four tail chakra beast cloak, that's the inspiration for the form's face!**

 **Well, I'm Out so Peace Out and have a lovely day!**


	2. The Arch-Demon drops in (2)

**Chapter 2** : **The Arch-Demon drops in (2)**

* * *

It was the devil.

Those were the only words that the slim thug could think of after seeing that thing.

Looking over the monster's shoulder, he virtually felt all of the blood rush out of his face when he sees his two mates beaten into a bloody pulp. They were supposed to be the muscle of the group. What could he possibly do, all he was only sent nab the girl and that was it, no freaky devil monsters that might want to eat his face off.

"You afraid?" It was obviously apparent that he was being mocked based on the low chuckle of the creature.

"Like hell I am!" His fear of getting creamed like the other two was overshadowed by his pride. Despite that pride stemming from being a vagabond and kidnapper, its still pride nonetheless, "You looking for trouble or what?" He crouched down and prepared his blade.

"I'm here aren't I?" The creature made their slow advance with each step shaking the ground beneath them. The slim thug almost loses his footing from the shock but steadies himself as soon as the thing was in face stabbing range. He had a chance, the other two didn't have this souped up piece of high tech to help them.

Taking the gamble, the slim thug made a mad dash at the monster with his knife readied to impaling its neck. However, he may have been fast, but the creature was way faster than he could ever imagine, and durable too because it not only blocked the blade with its bare elbow while sustaining no damage from the knife's energy blade.

The thug was speechless and gulped as the creature grabbed his wrist with its free hand, "It wasn't really a nice try but I'll give you a C+ for effort." As it began to put pressure, the slim thug could feel the bones in wrist crack as he fell to his knees, howling in pain.

The creature inquisitively looked at the thug in surprise, it barely placed that much strength in its grip just now. After releasing the slim thug, he had already passed from the sheer pain that coursed through his body and crumpled to the ground unconscious like the other two rather anti-climactically.

Dusting itself off, the creature was surprised with how well things played out. It laughed a bit upon seeing the angered Fisk the cat raise its leg to do its business on his face. Cats are truly grudgeful creatures.

"H-Hello?" Perking up, the horned creature looked back to the van to be reminded of the bound Rose. Quickly rushing up to the van with Fisk following it in tow, the horned creature stuck out his clawed index and middle fingers and used them as faux scissor to cut the ropes.

Now free, Rose scoops up Fisk into a warm loving hug relishing the fact that her cat didn't meet its end as roadkill. Turning back to thank the nice creature, Rose found that he was already up on his feet and leaving the van.

"I was asked to help from some guy named Michael, he said that you knew him? Do you?"

"Mister Michael?" The creature took that as a yes.

"He already made sure to call the police. Make sure to tell them about your legal guardians, okay?"

"O-Okay, I'll tell them to call Miss Leslie to pick me up, my brother is probably busy with work." She noticed the creature strangely sigh with relief but pushed her query on it aside once it started to walk off.

"Oh, wait, um…Mr. Devil? Thank you." Those two words were all that she needed to say, but it held more weight than she thought at the moment. Mr. Devil's posture had grown tense, but as the sound of sirens filled the vast space around them, it turned around and gave Rose the biggest smile it could make despite its terrifying mien.

A huge gust of wind picked up around them and as Rose shielded herself from powerful gale, she looked up to find that Mr. Devil had vanished. And just on time when the police cars finally started being shown on the horizon. Clutching onto Fisk, Rose exhaled in relief and took a seat. She had to remind herself to also thank Mr. Michael for calling Mr. Devil for help along with the police, but for some strange reason, she felt that the obligation wasn't really necessary.

Lingering on the thought, she was soon assisted by the police, who properly secured her while handcuffing the beaten thugs. They were astonished by the amount of damage that they received and had asked Rose if she knew if there was someone around there, who could have done such a thing.

And wearing what could only be an attempt at mimicking that 'smile', she answered them.

"Mister Devil of course!"

* * *

Wheezing for air, Michael leaned against the brick walls of his and Jefferey's hideout. After his quick little escapade, he needed to go back for his backpack in some alley before running here. Thankfully, all of the backstreets were unoccupied so he could use his full speed.

"I need to work out…" He panted, he still hasn't really been too accustomed to his powers, well, reacquainted with his powers because of his mom. Recounting how the day sort of went off the rails with a sudden kidnapping, he was inclined to doubt that it could've been salvaged.

But that smile, Rose's smile was just enough to make him say that it was worth it. It's still a bummer about his bike though, he couldn't track down that Timothy guy at all, but the act of helping Rose was a good enough distraction from the taken bike. Not to mention the cool souvenir that he took from one of the flunkies, he just couldn't wait to show it off to Jeff tomorrow.

Opening the warehouse door, he breathes in and nostalgically looks over the sweet pad of retro arcade games, couches, stereos and their beloved snack bar. Most of their gear was salvaged and restored from the nearby Junkyard, and after years of blood, sweat and tears, they were able to make the best base ever. No place for parents to bother them, it was just him and Jeff couching it up.

And speaking of Jeff, he heard someone rustling around the back of the snack bar. Did he really skip class in the middle of the day, Michael wondered, but didn't waste a moment to herald his best friend's ballsy tactic of ditching school.

"Hey, dude! I can't believe you made it. To be honest, I never knew you had it in ya to skip school, but look at you now. You sure that you're not worried about your mom finding out?" He received no answer, but he was cool with it, worrying about the past isn't going to help anyone. All they had to do was focus on the present and get wild!

"Yeah, I get ya, but you know I'm not afraid of my mom finding out. What's she even going to do to her sixteen year old son? Beat me? Pfft, no way, I'm **way** stronger than her and let's not forget that she's so easy to predict. As soon as I mentioned a snake, she zips out of the house."

"Wow, aren't you clever."

"I know, but sometimes I wonder about her, I mean she is a scientist so shouldn't she see this sort of stuff coming, and that wasn't Jeff's voice." Turning around, he found his own mother standing behind the counter, drinking one of their energy drinks.

"Oh, hi, mom…"

"Hi, sweetie, how's my clever baby boy doing."

"So how long have you been here?" Shoulders slumping down, he knew that the jig was already up.

"Since this morning."

"I see, but how exactly did you get in here?" The only ones with keys to this place were him and Jefferey. Getting his answer, Samantha pulled out a key from her lab coat's pocket.

"Tara and I knew about your little secret the day after you two first found this place. So we took the keys from your backpacks and made copies. What? You honestly thought that we would have left you this big of a place to hang out in without at least keeping tabs?"

True, but it still hurt his pride that their secret hideout was so easily found out by their mothers.

"But how did you know about my-?" He paused before bitterly saying it through grit teeth, "Jeff's mom told you, didn't she?" He forgot to account for that factor of his plan, he should've known better since the two mothers were just as much best friends like Jefferey and him.

"And right on time too, I was just this close to getting on the freeway and what do you know? I was already on my way back to your sweet pad." Taking a few last sips of the energy drink, she crushed the can with her bare hands before roughly tossing it into their nearby pyramid stack of soda cans.

She was pissed, and there was only one way to soothe her temper and that meant-!

"Get your ass in the car…"

"Yes, mommy…" Doing his best to safely comply with her orders.

After locking the place up, she brings the car around from the back of the warehouse and forcibly urged him to sit in the passenger seat. Taking off from there, she began driving them off, but Michael didn't pay attention, he was busy with preparing himself for the earful that was going to get.

The painful silence in the car was further added by the tense way that his mother drove. Whenever they reached a stop light or sign, she would always abruptly stop at the last second due to her unconscious speeding. This lasted for over a couple of hours.

Taking a deep breath, she said, "So talk, why did you decide to skip school this time?"

"I was bored."

"Michael…"

"I'm not going to make excuses mom, it's so frustrating! I mean, you try sitting in the same rooms for a year learning crud that you already know."

"Michael, look, I know that school can be tough, but we all had to go through with it and so do you. Especially you." Samantha shook her head and could see her son roll her eyes.

"Why couldn't I just do homeschooling like I used to?" Everything was so much easier back then, he didn't have to worry about homework due dates, annoying classmates and subpar cafeteria food. It was just him, his mom and her friends.

"We've talked about this because you needed to socialize with kids your own age, and I didn't want you to continue staying cooped up at home or the labs all day doing calculus and biology." Samantha did take some pride in her son's ability to absorb knowledge but that alone wouldn't have prepared him for real life.

"I do too socialize. I have you, Professor Finn, Aunt Kate, and Jefferey, and I still turned out fine."

"Yeah, except I'm your mother. Professor Finn and Kate are my co-workers and besides Jefferey, who else is your friend that isn't in any way shape or form connected to you through me?" She implored him to continue and was met with silence, "Look, Jefferey's a good kid, and it still boggles me why he chose a rascal like you to be his best friend, and I'm glad that he did. But that doesn't change the fact that you need to broaden your personal network of friends and openly accept the changes that they make in your life."

"Couldn't I still do that without being in High School?"

"Yes, but you're still going to school."

"So, I don't even have the freedom to decide what I want to do?" He slouched over and leant against the car window.

There it is, that was her kid's biggest issue, unless it was something that he favored, he wouldn't even try to compromise in the slightest. It was a spoilt mindset, but she's partially to blame for giving him too much leeway in his childhood.

"So, what you're saying is that you want the freedom from school, correct?"

"Yeah." He excitedly picked himself up and nodded.

"Even if it was for a day like today?"

"Uh-huh!"

"Then fine, you win. You don't have to go back to school today." Samantha could see the boy bounce around in his seat in joy as she spun the steering wheel and placed on the car brake.

"Thanks, mom! You're the best! I love you so…where are we?" He gulped as he looked out the window to see nothing but the hot desert. How far did she drive them, and how did he not notice the apparent change in scenery?

"Palm Springs Desert. The weather here is hot isn't it? Forecast says it's over a 100 degrees Fahrenheit today, but I'm sure that you'll be fine, kiddo." With a pat to the shoulder, she urged him to step outside much to his confusion, "You said that you wanted to spend your freedom away from school, so I decided that for part one of your punishment for tricking me, you'll spend the rest of your freedom from school walking home. Now get out."

"Fine…"

With a push out, he was now standing beneath the harsh rays of the sun in maddening heat of the desert. She didn't even let him take his backpack or even a bottle of water and yet it didn't really faze him in the slightest.

Spotting this, Sam smirked, "Just to warn you. You can't use your powers to run home especially in the middle of the day around this busy highway." Suddenly his face grew pale, it pays to be a mother, you could basically read your kids without even trying.

"But walking back home is going to take hours, and it gets freaking cold out here during the night!" He hated the cold, the heat of the desert was his friend in comparison as he barely even broke a sweat under the sweltering temperatures.

"You have a point…" Samantha frowned, giving Michael a glimpse at hope. Tugging the sleeves of his jacket, she said, "Good thing you have this then."

"Mom, come on, you can't be serious!"

"Well, I suppose I would have let you use your bike if you had brought with you." Samantha smiled, "What happened to it?"

Looking away, he coughed in his hand, "I sort of lost it…"

A long pause ensued before she shrugged it off and laughed, "Well sucks to be you, sweetie! See you at home, and if I find your ass there before me, I'll just drive you back here again wearing nothing but your underwear!" Michael shivered at the thought of walking back home in the dark, half-clothed.

"No wait, I'm sorry!"

"Later~!" Burning rubber, his mother did not waste any time merging onto the highway as she recklessly drove up the ramp and turned back for Rialto.

Now standing alone in the desert without his cellphone, money, water, or any means of transportation, Michael begrudgingly began walking down the busy highway. He sure as hell wasn't going to waste his first car hitchhike over a stupid punishment, he'll just wait it out until nightfall. She did say not to use his powers in the middle of the day and he was in no real rush to really get going once it was dark enough, he would be home in a matter of minutes.

 ***RATTLE!***

"Oh, a snake…" Michael began his long walk.

 ***RATTLE!* *RATTLE!***

"Wow, there must be a ton of these guys here." Now he was race walking.

 ***RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!***

"Nice day for a jog, isn't it?"

 ***RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!***

"Its good to push myself with a good sprint from time to time, eh?"

 ***RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!* *RATTLE!***

"…Oh hell no!" His cries filled the desert as he desperately ran like his life depended on it. Did he forget to mention that he shared a bit of his mother's fear of snakes?

* * *

South Los Angeles, the location of the Los Angeles county's most dangerous neighborhoods. Crimes were commonplace in the area, you'd have your gang spats, homicides, and drug dealings. You can even call it a form of prison in some ways. Most people who live there were either born there or have no actual way of getting out thanks to their low income.

In the past, the county has made countless efforts to clean up the rambunctious neighborhoods, but their efforts of restoring the streets and cleaning things up were in vain. They couldn't fix the poverty that most families there lived through and because of that either theft crimes or petty crimes such as assault and battery or even homicides to occur.

At night, however, these crimes would only escalate the dangers of being in one of these neighborhoods. And those who so carelessly lark through it will find themselves having a bad time.

Settling down the engines to his motorcycle, a tall young man hid his bike within the confines of one of the street's secluded alleys. Pulling out his phone as he began his departure, he flipped it open to recheck a message. If he wanted his target, he'll have to go up a few more blocks to reach his destination.

His pace was brisk as he pulled out a black mask and covered his face before putting on the hood of his leather jacket. Reaching the corner of the street, he peeks from the side of the building to see a band of thugs laughing and entering one of Los Angeles' many alleyways. And to confirm his thoughts, he follows them to see the gang enter the location of his target, Ricki's Bar.

He was too far away to hear but it seemed that they needed to speak a password in order to get in. Thankfully, he knew of a universal password that worked every time.

As soon as the gang of thugs entered the bar, he made his way up to door and roughly banged on it.

"For fucks sake, you asshats don't have to bang that loud. I'm literally sitting right here!" Shouted a deep, nettled voice.

The mask was doing a great job of hiding the young man's smile as he then proceeded to bang on the door again which earned a growl from the doorkeeper behind it.

"Fine, fine, tell me what the password is, and you can get in…" The chump sighed, he must have gone through a ton of these brash meetings and grew to be desensitized to them, the young man surmised.

"Fuck you." The half-muffled words through his black mask reached the doorkeeper's ears.

"Excuse me for a second… For a minute there I could have sworn that you just told me to fuck myself?" Some laughter arose from within the bar.

"I said fuck you, but yeah, while you're at it, go do every lady in the world a favor and go fuck yourself…" In the city, talking shit was more than a sure way to get into a fight. The young man boldly looked up as the door opened to reveal the poor sucker that he was trash talking. The brute was about six feet tall and was ripped as hell. No wonder he was chosen to be the doorkeeper, just the sight of his tattoos alone would make ordinary civvies run for the hills.

Before the brute could say anything, the young man swiftly pulled out the crowbar that he concealed within the back of his jeans and jacket, but before the damn thing could hit, the brute was able to snag it in his tight grip.

"You're about to wish my momma taught me right…" The brute angrily grunted in discomfort, it looked like really hurt to catch the wide swing.

"Not really…" The young man cocked back his bandaged arm.

"You about to clock my shit, nice try but you're not the first upstart bitch to try that!" The brute laughed, but as soon as the young man's fist made contact with his face, he saw nothing but white. His nasal bone caved in and the side of his face that was punched resulted in one of his cheek bones to almost shatter like glass.

In one fell swoop the brute fell and standing over his prone form was the young man, who kept his fist clenched upon entering the sleezy establishment. Drugs and filthy money on the tables, booze in the stocks behind the counter, and let's not forget to mention the gangsters pointing their guns at him.

But amidst the threat, the hooded young man simply shrugged, "I'm looking for Ronnie, you assholes know where he is?"

"Get that muthafucka!" As soon as the bullets went flying, the young man threw down one of the nearby tables and used it as cover. It was a wooden table, so eventually some bullets whizzed right through it, so he needed to move. Before coming in, he spotted the gang of five thugs along with two of the bartenders that worked the place, so seven targets.

Picking the table up from one of its legs, he rushed in and used what was left of the beaten surface as a shield. The thugs just kept on shooting, but once he was close enough, they began to withdraw as he swung the edge of the table into the first thug that he could reach. Blood flew out from his mouth as the table's considerable sharp edge left a wicked cut on his face.

Seeing someone from the corner of his eye raise their gun, he quickly turns on his heel to evade the incoming bullet while effectively smashing the thug with the table that had now crumbled into pieces.

"Drop dead asshole!" With no shield left to protect him, he was left to mercy of the five remaining armed enemies. Looking towards one of the advancing thugs, he raised his free hand in time with the thug shooting his gun. The round of bullets bounced off of him, shocking everyone in the room especially the thug, who fired them, and received a jab to the gut from the man's crowbar before receiving the same harsh treatment to the face like the brute that horribly banged up his face and left him a bloody mess on the floor.

"That's three." Alright, now all he had to do was choose between the two bartenders or the two thugs. It wasn't an easy choice since the two pairs were still equipped with guns, but judging from the two bartenders shakily holding up their guns, he made a guess that their hostility was purely out of self-defense and the fearful possibility of getting robbed; the black mask that he wore sort of gave that impression.

Just to test that theory, he banged his crowbar on the counter and one of the bartenders flinched and accidentally shot the other in the arm.

"Son of a thousand fucking whores! Uuuagh! Dave, you asshole!"

"S-Sorry, Ted!"

Welp, that was a quick fix to his problem.

"Drop dead already!" The two remaining thugs wildly shot their guns at the hooded man, but like their little buddy before them, it had no effect once he started using his free hand to deflect the lethal projectiles. Eventually they emptied their clips, but they weren't done fighting yet as one thug raised his fists while the other skillfully pulled out a pocket knife.

For the masked man, he saw that the fight in these guys were admirable for a bunch of drug dealing criminals, but he wasn't one to judge considering his own line of work. So pocketing his crowbar, he decided to indulge in a straight up brawl.

So he raised both of his bandaged fists up while spreading his legs shoulder-width apart unlike the thug, who was just holding a stance to be intimidating before recklessly rushing in and throwing any punches that he could get a good hit in. Raising his guard, the masked man used his forearms to block the blows before ducking and weaving to break free from the hits and land a good hit to the thug's jaw.

It wasn't with the fist that he used before, so the hit wasn't a Knock Out, but it was strong enough to disorient him long enough to prepared another punch to the face. Sadly, he couldn't do the finishing job as the other thug wielding a pocket knife joined the fray, swinging and thrusting his sharp weapon at the hooded intruder.

There were some instances to where he was able to make contact with his arm, but like the bullets, the pocket knife's blade had no effect. The man continued to use said arm as a form of shield before clocking the thug in the face with his other arm's elbow which did result in a gnarly nose blood.

The two punks were recovering from the harsh damage dealt to them, so now was the time to put them down. The masked man pulled out his crowbar and mercilessly slammed it into the face of the nose bleeding thug leaving another punk horribly scarred and bruised before turning to the now recovered thug that threw one last punch his way.

Looking at him, the man found the remaining punk to be disheveled to throw even a single punch, so he simply moves out of the way to watch the thug trip over his own feet.

Looking over the bodies, the young man sighed and shook his head. They weren't his target, and he had to admit that he probably pushed things too far by patronizing the doorkeeper first. But to be fair, they wouldn't have spared him a second thought if he was in their position what will all of the death threats and guns.

Approaching the counter, he began to pull up a stool.

"Die, you son of a-!" Ted, the bartender tried to hop out from under the counter and shoot the man, but was left with severe head trauma from a crowbar bashing his face in.

"P-Please don't hurt me, I only work here a-and-!" Dave the bartender gulped.

"As long as you're not holding a gun then we're fine." The young man's eyes gesturally looked to the weapon in his hands.

"R-Right, right!" The bartender dropped his gun to the floor and panicked once accidentally shot off a bullet into the ceiling. Letting the moment pass, he sighed, "S-So what do you want, sir?"

"First…" The hooded man drummed his fingers on the counter, "I want a glass of water." This earned him an incredulous look from the bartender, who had expected him to go for cold hard liquor like their usual customers.

"What? I do have to drive myself home tonight, plus, I ain't dealing with no cops giving me a DUI." The LAPD were anal about any crime so doing less out in the open was a standard way not to be detected.

Now with another glass of water in hand, the hooded man slightly lifted his black mask to take a deep gulp of the refreshing liquid. He had been working all day so a quick intake of H20 surely revitalized him.

"Bastard…" Moaned the still disoriented thug on the floor that grabbed onto the hooded man's ankle.

"Excuse me." Raising the empty glass of water over the thug's head, the young man finally knocked him out as the heavy cup shattered against his skull.

"Now…" He pulled out a picture from his pocket and showed it to Dave, "I've heard that a guy named Ronnie Lawrence stops by here all of the time." The bartender's expression froze with panic which was understandable since snitching was a one way ticket of branding yourself as a potential dead man on the streets.

Reassuringly raising his hands, the young man said, "Look, I won't tell anyone about you. Wouldn't gain anything from it anyways, so what can you tell me about him?" The bartender looked conflicted before heaving a heavy sigh.

"I'm still fairly new to working here so I haven't personally seen of him, but I heard from Ted that Ronnie the Cracker used to be a main patron for this place."

"The Cracker?" A stupid name, yet a familiar name that the young man just couldn't fully remember.

Dave shrugged his shoulders just as confused as the hooded man, "I don't really know the specific details about the guy, but I do hear that he's been working under some up and coming gang called the Mavericks."

The Mavericks, eh? He's heard of them before, and might have gotten some good gigs breaking a few of their lesser known members' legs. Well, lesser known to him, as long as he got paid, he couldn't care less about the people that he takes down.

"So do you know what he's doing now?"

"Not really, Ted said that the guy was always complaining about how he could've made some sort of big score ages ago and those were his usual visits. At first it sounded to me that he was probably flexing, but about a month before I got hired to work here, he told me that the last that he saw of Ronnie around here was when he finally celebrated about finally being able to pull of that long time coming score."

"I see…" At least he was able to gather some inklings of intel about the guy. And if his change in attitude over a once impossible gig had happened recently then it more than likely lines up with what his client told him. Now it was up to him to figure out what this "big score" was and he'll finally get his payroll.

"Thanks." Leaving a five dollar tip for the bartender, the hooded young man took his leave.

"A tip?" Dave awkwardly looked at the bill in confusion.

"Consider it as thanks for the info." The hooded man waved goodbye before stopping to look over the battered brute, he knelt down and stuffed his hands into his pocket and taking his wallet. Taking out a wad of money, he stuffs it into his pocket and nonchalantly pats the nonresponsive brute's shoulder, "Thanks." It may have been just a bunch of fives and ones in the wad, but he was running low on money and needed to gain something if he couldn't find his target.

Just as he was about to put one foot out the door, Dave immediately asked, "If you don't mind me asking…who are you?"

Taking a moment to think, the hooded-masked man shook his head and distastefully said, "Just call me Scrounger…" It wasn't a dumb name like the Cracker, but it was still a weak ass name, nonetheless.

And with that he closes the door to the messy bar while crushing the door knob in the process.

From one lead to another. At this rate, he felt his progress slow down to a snail's pace which wasn't an option considering his new client, who could finally turn things around for him. And in order to keep this new opportunity, he needed to do absolutely anything to get the job down.

Until the bell dings, he wasn't going to lose before the first round of three came full circle.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading everyone and I hoped that you enjoyed the chapter! I'm still figuring things out, but I think I'm doing well so far. What do you guys think?**

 **Welp, I hope that you all have a great day!**

 **I'm out so peace out and have a lovely day!**


	3. The Arch-Demon drops in (3)

**Chapter 3** : **The Arch-Demon drops in (3)**

* * *

It was 7 AM in the city of Rialto as a shivering Michael Miller groggily walked down the empty streets of the awakening city for school. The struggle was real for him, he was hungry and cold. His mother was a real hardass whenever she had to punish him. It took him until three in the morning to make it back home and that was still the earliest time that he could manage. Going at full speed would have been instantaneous for him but the roads and sidewalks were filled with people at night, so he had to carefully maneuver around them without getting spotted.

The last thing that he wanted was to get an earful from his mom about sudden rumors of some kid outrunning some cars…again.

Despite making it home late with only four hours of sleep, he still looked as wide awake as yesterday not that it was a big deal. He didn't really like to sleep for too long anyways. So, after what happened the other day his mom made sure to be more vigilant with waking up and making sure that he went to school under her watch. Quite literally.

"Keep moving, slowpoke!"

"I know…I know…" He groaned as his mom honked the horn of her car as she closely drove behind him on the road.

"Mmmmm, it sure is toasty with my car's heater on especially on a cold fall morning such as today, eh?" Samantha cruelly smiled as Michael shot her the angriest of stares. His punishment was far from over, she knew he can't handle the cold and rubbed it into his face. Perhaps he should surprise her with a rattlesnake that he could pick up from the Palm Springs' dessert. Nah, that's probably pushing it, he wouldn't even have the stomach to even look at one.

"Don't worry the cold is a great motivator for you to keep moving to warm yourself up! By the way it's so warm in here, I feel like falling asleep again." She teased and basked within the comforts of her vehicle.

Tossing her one last look, Michael tightly held his hands together and breathed into it. Fine, if she was going to be that way then she probably won't mind him trying to stay warm as best as he could. The warmth was immense, in fact, the heat that he emitted from his mouth was scalding hot as evidenced by the small licks of flames that flowed out of the crevices of his fingers.

This immediately earned him a soda can being thrown at the back of his head. He groaned in slight annoyance, it didn't really hurt but he still felt the weight of it and realized that it was still full.

"What did I say about using _that_ in public!?" Sam scolded him as she pulled up next to the sidewalk. He winced at this since she was doing it in that quiet, authoritative voice of hers. Sure getting shouted at was tolerable, but there was just something about mothers lowering their voices to reprimand their kids that made it hard not to wince.

"Don't…" He groaned.

"Right, now don't make me catch you do that again especially in the middle of the day…" She paused and looked down, "Now fetch me my can of soda, I need my daily dose of caffeine."

"Okay…" He begrudgingly walked over to pick up the dented can, but noticed a pair of familiar green and black sneakers standing in front of him. Looking up, his once long face was now somewhat beaming with joy, he was still bitter about the other day.

"How's it going, Mike?" Jefferey bitterly smiled. Like Michael, he was about his age with blond hair and blue eyes as he wore a black and green hoodie, tanned cargo shorts and a pair of glasses. Not to mention the guy's favorite pair of wireless headphones.

"Terrible, but I-I'll manage…" He hesitated upon feeling his mother's stern eyes burn holes through the back of his head.

"Good Morning, Jefferey!" Samantha backed her car up and greeted the boy with a bright smile.

"Good Morning, Miss Mill."

"So, how are you?"

"I'm doing good, I mean, my mom's tightened her leash on me and my curfew is basically around seven after school now so…yeah, everything is going great…" It was hard not cringe, despite not ditching like him, Jefferey still had to go through his hardass mother's punishment. Goes to show that not getting away with the crime will still make you pay the time with that woman as your mom.

At least his mom wasn't that cruel.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot, thanks for reminding me! Michael, you're to immediately come home after school this week, okay? Okay!"

"But-!"

"No buts, and don't think that you're off the hook this weekend because you're accompanying me to work! Yep, you're not goofing off this weekend, just staying in the lab doing your homework the whole day with your mom. Oh, and thank Karen for me, Jefferey, she comes up with the best ideas for teaching brats like mine great lessons! Tell her to call whenever she's not too busy down at the hospital, okay?" Samantha winked.

"O-Okay, ma'am…" Jeff sighed and looked at a downfallen Michael walk off to school.

"I believe I can trust you boys to make it to school by yourselves, so I'll see myself off! Bye, sweetie have a great day at school!" Samantha waved goodbye to her fuming son, who only offered her a grumbled bye in return before abruptly making a sudden U-turn on the street.

Rushing to catch up with Michael, Jefferey whispered, "So are you thinking of any more plans to ditch school in the near future, or…?"

"No…" Michael facepalmed, he wasn't going to be able to pull the same plan on his mom again, plus, he didn't want his mom to spill the beans of his fake sick calls to school otherwise he would lose any opportunity to make more schemes in the future without his mother's say in the matter.

He only hopes that the following day won't be a complete headache after what happened yesterday. First, he gets his bike stolen and now he's on his mother's watchlist, well, he's now on his mother's constant watchlist. But looking back at it, he did feel that some good came out of it and that all stemmed from saving a little girl and her cat.

With his mood brightening, Michael looked to his friend and grinned, "Say, Jeff, you are not going to believe the day I had yesterday."

* * *

"Are you serious!?"

Jeff's screams of disbelief were one of many thundering voices that filled the hallways of Rialto High School. It was about a fifteen minute walk from the neighborhood to get there, and the reason why would be because his mom doesn't want him to be late, but that's never the case should he use his super speed, the real reason was because she didn't want to waste any gas money for any far away schools.

"I wouldn't lie about my bike getting jacked dude…" Michael groaned as he struggled to open his locker. Damn, locks and their stupid precise combinations, he can tell that the damn thing was being stupid with him, he can't have possibly missed the same digit thrice!

"Not that! I mean, I'm sorry about your bike but…" Jeff leaned in closer to whisper, "Are you sure that it was okay to go full…y'know…"

It wasn't a surprise for Jefferey to be concerned with that because after all from all of the people that Michael knows, only him, his own mother, and a few others knew of his secret about his powers.

"Welp, I can only cross my fingers and hope that those thugs thought that me beating their asses was some sort of dream. Dammit, really…?" He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he failed to open the lock once again.

"What about that girl you saved though?"

"You mean Rose? Nah…" Michael looked up in thought before laughing it off.

"But-"

"Dude, I doubt that the police would believe a little kid's story about what happened. They'll probably write off whatever she says as her mind playing with her due to the trauma of being kidnapped. Almost…" This time for sure, he was finally going to get this damn thing to open.

"I guess you're right, but there's always the off chance that something could…"

"It didn't work again? Grgh!" With a loud crack, Michael angrily pulled the dial off of the metal lock and dryly looked to Jefferey, "Would you mind…uh…"

"Sure…" Taking that as his cue, Jefferey turned the other way and stepped back to hide the teen from any lingering eyes as he removes his lock. It wasn't the first time to happen to him and it probably won't be the last. Placing one hand on the locker door, he tightly took hold of it, he had to be careful not to pull the whole locker off or it would obviously draw the unneeded attention of everyone in the hallway.

Okay, he was ready, he just needed to dial back on the strength and pull as fast as he could. In one…two…thr-!

"Well, well, well, if it isn't, Miller!" Startled between his counting, Michael forcibly removed not only the broken lock but the locker's handle as well.

He groaned as he looked over his ruined locker, "Why…"

Now back to the person who forced him to slip up, and he knew that annoying authoritative voice from anywhere.

"Not even a day later and you're already causing trouble, but at least that's a sign that you're no longer _sick._ "

Grumbling to himself, he begrudgingly turned to face the bane of literal existence, Jade Lopez. The sophomore golden girl on campus. Officiously standing with both hands on her hips, the tanned girl looked down at him with those sharp brown eyes of hers. A quick jerk of her head sent back some strands of her wavy green hair from obscuring her sight.

"Great, its you…" The despondence dripping from his tone was made quite clear as he rolled his eyes.

Tapping her feet, she narrowed her eyes at him, "Is that any way to say good morning to someone, Miller?"

You're one to talk, Michael thought as his eyebrow twitched at the hypocrisy. Wasn't it customary to greet someone first when engaging a conversation instead of, oh, he doesn't know, screaming their name like a freaking banshee. Usually, he wouldn't indulge in listening to her, but after yesterday, he decided to just get it over with…

"You're right, I'm sorry…"

"What?" Both Jade and Jefferey were put off by the teenager's sudden apology. The usual brash Michael would never apology let alone give one to Jade.

"Allow me to properly greet you today…" While Jefferey took a sigh in relief, Jade was absolutely taken aback by the young man prostrating himself to her.

"Good Morning, your Grace!" He tried his best to sound as subservient as any french butler would and at the top of his lungs no less. This attracted the attention of nearby students, who quietly observed. Jade shot any observers a fierce glower that sent them walking away. This however didn't stop the rising whispers.

"Miller…" Jade growled.

Bouncing back up on his heels, the young man laughed, "What, no good morning back? Pfft, and you insinuate that I'm the rude one." Jade angrily clicked her tongue, and with that he finally gained some semblance of a good morning from the green headed girl.

"Good morning...Miller…" Jade sweetly(?) greeted him through grit teeth.

"Oh, I can just feel the love…" Michael snickered.

"And good morning to you too, Jefferey." She said, sweetly.

"Morning…" Jefferey warily waved.

Soon enough the pre-warning bell for first period rang throughout the halls, students began moving each and every way like a pack of unorganized fish.

"That's the bell for homeroom, I'll see you there, Jefferey." She smiled to the blond but gave the other teen a look so frigid that it would give you goosebumps, "And I better see you there too, Miller."

"Here's to hoping I don't get sick on the way there." He vehemently forced a frown.

"Yes, because we wouldn't want that to happen again, now would we?" The insinuation wasn't lost on Michael, he could pull the rug on most people in the school with his little ditch tactics since he's not that close to anyone besides Mark, but Jade was a different case. The girl was always on his case ever since he started to attend school, why she did so in the first place was lost on him, but it doesn't change the fact that she's annoying as hell.

Watching her leave, Michael's eyes lowered to appreciate the pleasing view of her hips.

"Even though I hate to see her come…" He trailed off before looking on in disinterest, "I still love to see her literally leave."

"So, uh, what are you going to do about the…" Jeff pointed to the ruined locker.

Not even sparing the handle in his hand any thought, he nonchalantly tossed it over his shoulder and shrugged. "Meh, I'll just get another one during lunch." There was more than enough time since their free period would last for about an hour before wrapping up the last two classes for the day. This wasn't the first time that he jacked up his locker and it probably won't be the last. He'll just have to come up with some excuse about the locker being too rickety like the last two times.

He silently made a note to himself about holding back should the news of him breaking so much property reaches his mom's ears.

"And your textbook for class?" Jeff further inferred.

"I'll just share your book for class." Taking step, the two then proceeded to class but with Jeff looking a bit hesitant.

"Yeah, that's not going to work, pal. Remember, Mr. Peterson deducts points from our grade for each day we don't enter class with our textbooks." The young teen groaned at that, these high school teachers were ridiculous. The reason was probably because the teacher wants to teach them responsibility, but isn't that inadvertently killing a student's drive to get to class. Not to mention that he's shooting himself in the foot by possibly failing students this way and getting fired for having a low teaching performance.

"Another reason why I hate coming here…" The young man scratched his head out of frustration before a thought came to mind. Putting on as big of a grin as he could, the young man began to back peddle away much to Jeff's confusion as the blond teen turned around to see that his friend was already halfway down the hall.

"Y'know, I figured that it would be best for me to get myself that new lock about now. Make sure to…hehe…tell Mr. Peterson, okay?" He noticed the suspicious look in Jeff's narrowed eyes, but took off running once he got his bud's affirmative nod. Yes! Yes! Yes! It may not be long, but maybe he can salvage some form of freedom with this great new excuse.

Amidst all of his excitement, he caught himself from zooming through the hallways with a little too much speed just before he almost passed the janitor. Looking ahead, it took him a few more steps to reach the front door to the school faculty office. All he needed to do was talk to the lady at the front desk give her the excuse that his locker's been broken once again and that he forgot some very important books at home, so he'll have to rush back and get them.

Oh, and he has to make sure to emphasize the part about how busy his mom was that she had to rush to work at S.T.A.R labs. That part always hooked them in on how top priority things were.

Reaching for the door knob, he shirked back in surprise as the door suddenly slammed opened. Phew, he almost got slammed in the face by…some random girl with brown hair and green eyes. And looking closely at her face, she had freckles too. She shot him an awkward look that soon turned to disdain. Oh, was urh…looking at her face for too long?

"What? Is there something wrong my face?" Ugh, he didn't want to make another Jade to be pissy at him during school. So all had to do was break the awkward tension.

"Nope, but you have a nice one…" There a compliment, being kind goes a long way and peacefully makes enemies into friends. Well, at least that's what the Old Big Blue would say.

"…" The girl raised her eyebrow. He guesses that his remark may not have landed on her. Probably? Maybe? Meh, girls around his age were hard to figure out.

"If it isn't, Mr. Miller." Appearing out from behind her in the doorway was the school's principal himself, Mr. Hernandez. A rather fit man in his mid 30's who can still somehow rock a pair of shades and a pant suit.

"Hello, sir." Michael waved trying to avert his attention from the girl still giving him that weird look.

"Classes have begun, any reason why you're here?"

"Actually yes, my locker broke, so I need a new one." Michael lightly shrugged it off.

Taking a deep breath, the principal shook head and said, "…Again?" He gave the man a nod. Glancing at the girl, Mr. Hernandez gave her what looked like a sympathetic glance, "Alright then Ms. Jones, you'd best hurry off to class. Remember, should your situation change, then you come talk to me anytime you're ready."

"Thank you, Mr. Hernandez." The girl's lips crooked upwards in what formed a smile, but for some reason the look on Mr. Hernandez's face didn't fully look that convinced of it. Was she forcing herself to smile or wh-and he's been staring at her face again without thinking? Dammit!

"…Weirdo…" Really, she had to say that while the principal was in front of them, and just as she was about to leave too? Man, girls are so hard to understand sometimes.

"So…" The young man trailed off as he nudged his head to the office, "Can I come in?"

Hand to forehead, Hernandez groaned and gestured for the boy to enter. Might as well if he had to reassign him to a new locker. The young man waved to nice lady at the front desk, he certainly didn't know her name, but they were at least acquainted. Well, he shares this sentiment with most of his classmates as a whole. Off the top of his head, he can only name a few that he either likes or dislikes.

"So, Mr. Miller, how have you been? I take it your sickness is gone?" Mr. Hernandez asked.

"Yep, I'm feeling better than ever. You won't catch me eating anymore gas station food after school anymore, hehehe…" The excuse that he had used may have been lame, but considering the health hazards of some gas stations it was quite believable. The principal made way to the front desk to retrieve a walkie talkie and walked off to probably talk about his locker and stuff.

A few minutes of waiting and he returns after strangely giving the front desk lady a courteous smile, "Cindy would you make taking a call for me right now?"

"Yes, sir." The front desk receptionist named Cindy does just that as she inputs a few numbers before putting the landline to her ear awaiting the call. Turning back to the teen, Mr. Hernandez coughed and crossed his arms.

"Well, Mr. Miller, you'll be happy to know that we've already decided your next new locker…again. Here's the number and we'll have someone get your books out of the old one in a little while." He handed Michael the slip, "Now is there anything else you need before I send you off to class?"

Go time. "Why yes actually, Principal, I need to have my textbook for class right now and I wouldn't want to do poorly in it otherwise I'd get points deducted from my grade for not having it with me." First, layout the problem.

"While that's unfortunate, it will take some time to retrieve it."

Now to counter. "Yes, but after missing out on class the other day, I find it would be best to come in prepared, so I won't be too behind on the subject matter."

"I see, then what would you suggest?" Alright, he's taken the bait, now its time to lure him in with some flawless logic.

"Time, you see class doesn't finish for another hour, and thankfully, my mom always buys me two sets of textbooks in case I lose one of them." And by lose, he means accidentally set on fire or tear in half, "The books are back at my place, and its only a fifteen minute walk here to there, and if I run there and back real quickly then I'd be able to participate in class for just enough time to get situated with the content."

"I see…" Mr. Hernandez rubbed his chin. Now was time for the final blow.

"I mean, I would ask my mom to pick it up for me, but she does have important S.T.A.R. Lab business to handle. Last I heard, they've been researching a biological mutation in people's genes, and it would be a shame for her to drive all the way back from L.A. to get my dumb old books."

"…You're right that would be rather troublesome for your mother, and considering how close your address is to the school… Then I have no qualms with you leaving, Mr. Miller." Michael had to stop himself from excitedly bouncing about. It may not be enough time, but with his speed, he's sure that he can figure out something to do with those precious thirty minutes.

"Thanks for being so considerate, sir. I'll be back in a flash like the Flash!" Michael chuckled.

"No need for thanks, Mr. Miller. In all actuality, you should be thanking your mother." Michael's body soon shivered at the very mention of his mom, but still tried his best to compose himself.

"Y-You mean thank her for my extra books?" He nervously laughed.

"No for actually changing my mind about punishing you for falsely calling in sick." Oh, he can see where this is going.

"…She came here yesterday, didn't she?" He slumped down and groaned.

"And she spared us no little detail about what you may pull the next day. In fact, she even asked if we could give her the chance to hear your scheme." Oh, no. He followed the principal's line of sight to see Cindy holding up the phone.

"Oh…"

"Cindy, would you mind putting it on speaker?"

"Oh no, Miss Cindy, you don't have to do-!"

["Hi, sweetie!"]

"That… Hi, mom…" Michael facepalmed.

["So how's school! I trust that you haven't been getting into too much trouble, I hope!"] Even over the phone, he could tell that his mom was considerably annoyed despite her cheery tone.

"Nothing is wrong, Miss Miller. Michael here simply came in to request a new locker after his old one got broken." The teen felt annoyed once the principal patted his shoulder. He didn't quite like being one upped like this.

["So…another…broken locker. That's nice…that's nice…meaning I'll have to pay for the repairs…again…"] The tension grew in her voice.

"Look, mom, I'm sor-!" He really needed to salvage things before they came back to bite him in the ass later.

["Two weeks…"] What, two weeks? Was she referring to his punishment meaning…he'll have to go straight back home after school for the next two weeks.

"H-Hold up, mom! That's not fair, look, I'm sorry! I won't do it again!" He pleaded as best as he could because once she got mad things would only go downhill from here for him.

["…You're right two weeks is a bit unfair."] His breath stopped, he knew it would be too easy to expect leniency from her, ["That's why for revealing such vague yet touchy information about my work to get some time off from school, expect a five-week punishment."]

"F-F-F-Five weeks?" The young man was speechless, he couldn't wait that long to do nothing. He had very important stuff to do! Well, it wasn't that important, but he still has some things to focus on.

["Well, I'd best hang up. I'm just about close to exit traffic-" ***HONK!* "** My turning signal was fucking on you son of a bitch!"] The whole office fell quiet from the woman's road rage, ["Excuse me for that, and don't bother going back home. I already gave them your textbooks. Now, for the last time, have a great day at school and don't let me catch you pulling this again, **okay?]**

"Yes, ma'am." Damn, if he didn't feel defeated yesterday, he would most certainly feel it today.

["Good, boy. And Mr. Hernandez have a nice day as well, sir."]

"You too, Miss Miller…" Just as his mother hung up, Mr. Hernandez was already on his way to his office to collect said stack of books for Michael to carry.

"Here you are, Mr. Miller."

"Thanks…"

As he returned, he immediately handed the heavy weight of the stack to the teen. It wasn't heavy for the young man, but the weight of his designated punishment was pretty much crushing him. He would ask for a pass for class, but he just too bitter to ask at this point. Just as his hand touched the doorknob, the principal called out to him once more.

"Oh, yes, and Mr. Miller." He turned back to face the stern look on Mr. Hernandez's face, "We still need to discuss your choice for an extra-curricular activity. You won't be putting it off like you did your freshman year."

"Of course, sir…" He groaned as he didn't bother to hide how grated his nerves were. As gently as he could, he opened and closed the door with as much ease as he could with his frustrated mood. He would only hope that no one would notice the crushed indentations on the knob before the day was over, and the fact that the knob was a "bit" loosened.

* * *

"You know, in hindsight, you really should have seen this coming." Jeff shook his head while laughing a bit at Michael's predicament.

"I know…" The grounded teen's shoulders were slumped as he walked beside his friend down the hallway towards his new locker.

"I mean, your mom may not be as strict as mine, heck, she's pretty chill but she's just as quick to figure out bullshit from a mile away."

"I know…"

First period was over, and boy was it another boring slog of just listening to the teacher talk and talk and talk. Honestly, he could have just read the book by himself and now because he was late, he now had to make an essay for each section of the chapter that they were currently going over. And not to complain or anything, but there are seven to eight sections in all of the chapters for their AP European history class!

Michael managed to take a deep breath but noticed the worried look in Jeff's eyes as he looked at him.

"Five weeks may suck, but look on the bright side…"

"There are no bright sides…"

"Be positive, Mike. The world isn't going to end because you lost some semblance of freedom." Jeff laughed a bit but looked at the young man contemplating the very notion of it.

"You're right, the world is too big to end. It has to be something smaller, perhaps the school." Michael laughed.

"Mike…" Jeff gave him "the" look, and it was working. He was only kidding, nothing but a harmless joke.

"For now…" He whispered to himself but failed to realize Jeff shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

"So, I wonder who my new locker buddies will be…" The young man adjusted the books in his arms while his arms trembled in a faux fashion. Still have to keep up appearances especially in a crowded hallway full of nosy high schoolers.

"Hmmm…" Jeff took a closer glance to identify the number on the strip of paper, "I believe you're next to Kyle."

"Kyle? Never heard of h-wait, you mean that guy in class who always doodles on the desks?" It hit him once he gave the name some thought.

"And the same guy who draws some strip comics for the school's newspaper, the Knightly Roundtable." Jeff explained.

Huh, so that was the guy. He didn't really look at his comics since he doesn't read newspapers, but he has seen some of his work on the desks, and he has to say that they look incredibly drawn. Heck, he even heard that guy consistently held an A+ throughout freshman year for art class and even Michael found that class the hardest because he could use a paint brush to save his life…without breaking it and because he sucks at drawing in general.

If guy like that was going to be his locker neighbor, then things shouldn't be too bad. He keyed in on the number of his new incoming locker, but he gave Jeff an inquisitive glance once he stopped with a shocked look on his face. Probably just some cute red head walking our way, he did have a soft spot for Gingers.

Hm, oh, seems like another person was using the locker next to them at the moment. Neat, perhaps, they'll be nice like Kyle.

Inputting the combination for the already slotted lock, he made quick work of finally putting his books and backpack into the locker. Grabbing the book that he needed for the next class, he reached for the door of his locker, but not before roughly bumping shoulders with someone next to him.

"Oh, sorry about th-you!"

"Miller?"

Does god hate him? Did he just take it upon himself just to curse him with all of his bad luck for just this one day because being grounded and getting forced to choose some boring elective for the school year wasn't the worse thing that he could experience. No, what really sucked the life out of his day…was becoming locker neighbors with Jade-Goddamn-Lopez!

"That's it. I officially hate today… Jeff, let's bounce…" The teen didn't even bother to acknowledge her existence at that moment, he just wanted to get through the day with no more bullshit.

"R-Right…" Jeff still looked between the two of them, but mostly observed Jade's expression since she was just as surprised as his best friend was. From then on, the day progressed as slowly and boringly as possible, the young man did receive a few silent glares from Jade throughout the day, but he ignored her. Just as the school day ended, he and Jeff went their separate ways with Jeff merrily walking to HQ and Michael dragging his feet back home.

He didn't want to risk going back there, he was afraid that his mom was hiding out in the warehouse waiting for the chance to extend his punishment. So, he made it back home. He opened the front, threw his backpack on the couch, slogged his way up the stairs, and limply fell onto his bedsheets.

Ah, these flame-retardant sheets were just as warm as he left them. The day was a definite bust, but you know, he could figure things out to do while at home. Like playing video games, watching t.v., eating junk food, and…that was it. That would've been a nice schedule for a lazy day, but he wasn't in the mood to be lazy, he just wants to hang out around the city while continuing to…ugh…

Figure things out about himself. He certainly wasn't in the mood to sleep for too long anymore, so he had more than enough time to just see how things clicked. He picked himself up to stand, in one moment, his skin was dark, and the next moment, he was on his feet now with a strikingly red skin color and completely different look to boot. He looked to the mirror to once again observe his unique anatomy.

The house was a safe zone as his mom may put it when it came to him relaxing at him in his other form. He used to call it a "devil form" but he found the mere thought of it to be too self-evident. Hell, recently, he's noticed that he doesn't even look like a traditional devil should. Sure, he had the horns and claws, but what about the wings, the tails, his white void like empty socket for eyes and he was pretty sure that devils at least had noses. If Uncle Finn didn't explain to him that he breathed through his skin, then he would still be in the dark about it.

Also, he still wonders how the anatomy of his lips or was it his teeth? Bah, its hard to tell with that too, they're sharp and act like teeth, but he's still able to make a regular smile like his regular form. Giving himself a rather horrific looking smile in the mirror, he quickly dashed the "regular" part out of his past thought. Nothing was regular about the form. Its not like he hated it, he loves the powers despite the multiple times he's had to restrain them since childhood.

He's just wondering about what he is or more specifically what his own body is to him. The guys down at S.T.A.R. labs certainly don't know, and neither does him mom, and she knows everything that there is to know about him. There have been an outbreak of metahumans, but he's never heard of one running around with all of his powers, well powers that he's aware of for now. Probably there is, but he doesn't really know, some of those guys out there can be ridiculous.

The posters and many action figures of the Big guy in blue filled the middle half of his room as his signature "S" was proudly pinned against his wall, and he's basically an amalgamation of so many superpowers combined. Taking a glance at his little souvenir from his little adventure the other day, he picked it up to take a closer look.

He pressed the button and almost jumped as what looked like a blue blade of energy shunted itself from the handle. It sure was a strange blade, even stranger that some common thug had it. Looks like something that Aunt Kate would make and that stuff's usually high tech. So, he decided to put the blade against his wrist.

It may sound crazy, but he's quite durable in general. Heck, this form is twice a durable as his regular one. Just as he pressed it against his skin, he immediately sighs in relaxation. The heat that emitted from the blade was really soothing. Usually, it takes a lot for his body to heat besides using the sun, so this thing must have been releasing all kinds of thermal heat. Meaning to the average person, it was dangerous.

Retracting the blade back into the handle, he rubbed his chin in thought. If one criminal had something like this, then he'd definitely bet that tons more have the same weapons if not even more dangerous ones. If more of these guys were causing trouble like the ones who kidnapped rose, then it would be a totally just cause to stop a few of them, and maybe figure out his powers along the way.

Rialto wasn't the best place for crimes, its too darn peaceful here, well, compared to L.A. And since he's already forced to go there with his mom as punishment, then why the heck not. He could use the chance to spread his non-existent wings and check how things are over there. He might even find some thug selling the stuff and put an end to things before his mom even catches him. Bam! He saves many lives, and he figures out his powers in the process.

…But its going to be tough to sneak past her especially since she's more aggravated than ever. Welp, he'll just have to hope for a miracle that something new is brought up to garner her attention.

But enough of that downer talk, its time for this…erh…devil(?) to head towards the City of Angels! And nothings going to get in my way.

* * *

In the city of Los Angeles, a beautiful woman around her mid to late 20s let out a strained breath of air as she finished stacking the last box in an extra room of her condo. Sweat dripped down her glossy white skin as she pushed back a few strands of her long brown hair's bangs. Her green eyes shifted around the room.

Usually, Kate would have subjected her creations to handle the labor, but there was still some satisfaction had in working together with a relative. Especially, when she has the chance to make use of this empty place, she was always much too busy working at the labs than to really stay home. It wouldn't be an exaggeration if she were to honestly call the lab her home. Ever since she first transferred here as an intern. Sure, during that time she had to act as a babysitter for one of the new genetic scientists, but she was able to earn her place with some wonderful inventions.

"Hey, Caitlin, is that the last box?" She yelled out the door, and immediately heard the loud stomping of her niece come up the stairs.

"Yep, we've got everything situated here, Aunt Katelyn! Literally everything, you even allowed me to bring my own mini-fridge to live with you! You're the best!" To Kate, the very moment her red headed niece walked through the door, the whole room got brighter. Her brown eyes were the same bright and curious ones that she ever since she was a kid, and not to mention her luxurious, wavy gingery hair a very nice inheritance from her mother.

Thankfully, Kate was relieved that she received more from her sister-in-law's side than her brother's in more ways than one. But enough talk about that, lets get the little bundle of sunshine acquainted with her new home.

"So, Caitlin, welcome to Los Angeles. Uh…if you need anything just tell me and I'll come running. Well, not really since I installed a comm to your room to instantly reach me in any part of the condo, but still don't hesitate to call." Kate smiled.

"Okay, okay." Caitlin just nodded.

"Great, and…uh…I know it may be sudden, since you've been out of the country, but I made sure to sign you up to this great school called Providence Academy, and they gladly accepted you once I turned in that test I had you fill out and now they want you to take their Advanced courses. But if you want, I can opt to change to another high scho-."

"No, in fact, I want to see what its like. Any interaction with teens my own age might help me get used to being back in America." Caitlin shook her head.

"Great, we'll go shopping for your supplies just as soon as I finish my shift this weekend down at the lab. I'll take you there and let you see the neighborhood, and give you tips on which paths to take and avoid." Kate patted herself off and made her way to door.

"Okay." Caitlin nodded.

"Good, then I'll just leave you to unpack." But just before Katelyn could go about her business, she turned around upon being called.

"Say, Aunt Katelyn?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for letting me stay with you. It may have been sudden, but I really appreciate it." There was a hint of sadness in her eyes, it wasn't hard to put two and two together. The poor girl. She immediately embraced Caitlin and gave her a back a soft rub.

"No need. Its what family is all about, so enjoy your stay. California's your new home, so go wild, but don't go too wild…" She already had enough on her plate with "that" kid.

"Okay." Then she'll leave her to get ready. With a wave of the hand, Kate left the room and closed the door behind her as she left to prepare dinner, but then quickly stops herself upon realizing a small blunder.

Opening the door, Kate looked to her niece who had just barely opened a box, "That's right, Cait, I forgot to ask you, when you're being enrolled would you rather keep both your surnames or just one, and if just one then which one?"

With no hesitation, she gently smiled and said, "Caitlin Lincoln, please."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading everyone and I hoped that you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry it took a while, but I had some difficulty setting up a** **time frame** **for the story, so it won't be a mess for later. So, what do you guys think?**

 **Also, the art was made by shamserg on DeviantArt! Make sure to look him up.**

 **Welp, I hope that you all have a great day!**

 **I'm Out So Peace Out and have a lovely day!**


	4. The Arch-Demon drops in (4)

**Chapter 4** : **The Arch-Demon drops in (4)**

* * *

It was finally the weekend, and Caitlin stood in awe at the sight of the four-story building in awe. The building housed the very pinnacle of science, technology, and advanced research, S.T.A.R. Labs. The car ride here was sheer hell thanks to traffic, but it all felt worth it as she and her aunt finally walked through those glass doors.

The lobby was a spotless white room as rows of chairs stood in the middle of the room with a few leaning chairs back against the walls with the building's titled name was painted on them. Ahead of that was security as a few tough looking men and women looked on at them so vigilantly that it almost gave her pause from how intimidating they were.

But boy was she surprised since passing through them was a bit pleasant than she had thought as she received a courteous welcome from each of the staff. Right, she felt stupid for not considering her obvious perk of being related to an esteemed scientist here. After getting her temporary lab pass and being put through the standard body check, she and her aunt made their way for the elevator.

"This place is huge…" Caitlin was speechless as she looked through the windowed hallway to see a large garden on the outside along with a multitude of ponds. Hey, she even sees that a few of the hedges have been sheered to looked like stars. Clever.

"True but after being here for some years, you'll realize how small things can be after someone decides to unveil some big idea." Now garbed in her lab coat, Katelyn walked a bit further and placed her own official pass against the elevator door's lock twice. Once identified, the two made their way up to Katelyn's inputted destination almost immediately.

Her sight followed her aunt's pointer finger until she was now faced with each button for the building's individual floors. Her aunt soon then went into a deep explanation about each floor and about what each area of study they gravitate towards. Caitlin's eyes soon gravitated a bit lower to the bottom button before her aunt could finish. A sublevel? What could be there? Some secret experiment?

Or they could be hiding some comatose girl down there who's had half of their power stolen! But RWBY jokes aside, it wasn't a strange thing to have such a sublevel floor for any dangerous research that's to harmful to have on the surface.

"-and that is why we'll be going to the top floor." Shoot, she lost her train of thought!

"I-I see…" She forced a smile on her face and only hoped that her aunt could buy it. Please buy it.

"Don't be so nervous, the only people here consist of me, our lab's director and our top geneticist." Katelyn reassured her niece with a pat to the shoulder.

"Okay, when you put it like that…" How the flip would she even be calm after hearing that? Great, now she needs to try to avoid looking stupid in front of these two important people. So, it looks like she'll have to pull out the old smile and nod ploy, ugh, she's not even in her new school yet and she's already stressing out about her public image.

The elevator reached its destination, and the suspension that held it in place would been a great excuse for the unease in Caitlin's stomach as she took her first off of the elevator and into the wide-open space of the lab floor. All of the tech and machinery that fitted the environment was so pleasing to the eye and…were those actual supercomputers?

No, no, she has to stay whelmed.

But to be honest, it was a breath of fresh air to be in an actual _real_ lab that's not at all cluttered and severely lacking in equipment. Yeah, if only there was more funding that could've been given to the lab up in Antartica, then things would've been, no, that wouldn't have changed what happened at all. Great, she just killed her mood, now she'll naturally avoid looking like a dork geeking over this stuff.

"Are you-?" Her long face may have been apparent since her aunt's tone sounded a bit concern. Thankfully for the red head, the heavy sounds of clattering could be heard from the room at very back of the lab. Soon enough there was a loud smack followed by a loud 'oof'.

"Shite!"

"Hahaha, point for me! Take that, Finnie-boy!"

Aunt Katelyn let out a groan and hesitantly lead Caitlin to the source of the childish laughter. Cait was thrown out the loop, she could've sworn that she heard the sounds of a game going off in such a prestigious lab. But not even a moment too soon did she realize to voice of more occupant in there.

"You know the sword accessories are just for show, right?" The voice sounded off, perhaps that person had a cold or some sort of sore throat. Apparently, her aunt noticed the voice as well since she stopped to knock on the door.

"Look who's finally here. Kate, good morni-!" Blinking once, Caitlin saw the head of a woman pop out the door, her face was briefly warm and welcoming before their eyes met. She couldn't quite see her expression because once blinked again, the door slammed.

"W-Was it something I said?" Or fail to say, Caitlin thought.

"Oh, no its nothing…" Katelyn coughed and soon grew into a fit of coughs to probably drown out the yelling heard in the room. It was definitely something, but she'll just have to let it go for now. Making a good enough impression was the priority.

Another fit of coughing and shouting from the room in front of them later and she was invited into the room and introduced to the two top scientists. It looked like the two of them were playing a game on the Wii if the slim rectangular controllers on the couch was any indicator. The woman that she saw was quite pretty after getting quite a good look at her for more than a second, she was Samantha Miller, the top Geneticist.

"Wow, so you're Kate's niece, eh? Its nice to meet you, I hope you enjoy your stay here in Cali, Caitlin. Strange, I might have some trouble calling out to Kate since your names sound too identical. So how do you feel about Cat?"

"I-I don't mind it at all, I think it sounds rather lovely."

"Great, then Cat it is." The lady joyously gave the girl a hug.

She certainly was kind as she was eccentric, she'll give her that at least.

Now as for the other scientist, ehem, the director, he was strikingly handsome for someone of his age. Probably around his mid-forties to early fifties, his skin was a bit paler than her own, not to mention he had red gingery hair like she was, but with an additional matching beard on his square masculine chin. Also, not to mention that he's effectively the tallest one in the room, she could even say that he was the tallest person that she had ever met.

"Good morning to ya, little one. My name is Finn Murphy, it's a pleasure to meet you." The man stuck out his large hand out to her.

"L-Likewise, sir."

Jesus, she doubts that she could even wrap all of her fingers around it, and that thought was confirmed as she felt her hand get trapped into painfully tight welcoming handshake. She had to keep herself from wincing as she secretly rubbed her hand behind her back, she just shook hands with the lab's director of all things and such disrespect is the last thing that she should do.

Taking this as her chance, she looked around the room and noticed the kitchen, the large flat screen television and many stacks of magazines. So, it was their Break room, the place had the top-grade kind of stuff you'd expect for S.T.A.R. Labs, but it certainly had character if the poorly colored drawings taped to the wall were any indication. Did they let kids up here or what?

"Sweet!" A hushed voice cheered.

"Hm?" She looked across the room to spot a boy glued to his phone, he hadn't even paid her any mind since she entered.

"Oh, I see you've noticed my son, who's not studying." Sam smiled and rapidly snapped her fingers in his direction, "Michael, hey!" The boy looked up from his phone for a second to notice the new arrivals and gave them an such an 'enthused' wave.

"Excuse me for a bit." Samantha shook her head and strides herself to the young man's side. Surprisingly, the boy still didn't notice the presence of the woman before slammed his phone screen-first onto the table much to his chagrin.

"Hey…" The boy moaned in annoyance.

"You should be doing your homework."

"But I already finished."

"Show me." The young man heaved out a heavy sigh and handed the woman two textbooks with worksheets inside of them. "Good." Samantha flicked her son's ear and pointed to Katelyn and Caitlin.

"Now go introduce yourself to Katelyn's niece."

"Okay." Begrudgingly, Michael stood from his seat and trudged his way over to them. Huh, it was hard to see from earlier, but he's wearing a superman shirt.

"Good morning, Auntie Kate."

"…Good morning, Michael, how have you been?" Katelyn tiredly smiled and sighed.

"Bored, but I'll somehow live…" The young man yawned as he waved to the older woman before stopping at Caitlin, "And good morning to you…you…?"

Words began to come out his mouth, but he fell short after saying 'good morning'. Must have really been glued to his phone if he didn't pick up on her name already being dropped already.

"My name is Caitlin Lincoln, nice to meet you, Michael." She stuck her hand out.

"Likewise, Kit-Kat." He held his hand up.

"What?" She didn't how to feel about the name he called her or that weird gesture of his in response to her own.

"I said likewise…" He still kept his hand up.

"No, you just…" Awkwardly, she forgoes the handshake to point at him, "You just called me Kit-Kat."

"Well, duh, you're Kit-Kat while Aunt Kate is Aunt Kate. Since you're both Katelyn this way will make sure that things aren't confusing while I'm talking to either one of you." Oh, she got it now, yeah, its hard to distinguish the differences between their names without elaboration.

"Well, no, actually, my name is Caitlin with a 'C'."

"Really?" He was surprisingly widening his eyes at the revelation.

"Y-Yeah, I can see how it could be a bit strange…" She laughed and rubbed her neck.

"My brother actually wanted to name her Katelyn Jr., but my Sister-in-law decided to do both and give her, her own original name." Katelyn explained with a wistful smile.

The imagined memory of her parents arguing over her name was bittersweet for the girl who unconsciously sighed.

"Okay, okay, I think I got it now… So, from now on, I'll call you Kit-Cat with a 'C', eh? Sounds pretty clever don't you think?" The boy quite literally patted himself on the back.

"Y-Yes?" She didn't know how to react. So, she already has two nicknames in the span of a single day, she could probably say that they've clearly accepted her by now. The crushing hug that the big director is giving her, and the boy was a good sign apart from the fact that she was losing some much needed air.

"Hahaha, you two little ones are going to be good friends, I know it!" Finn laughed as he released Caitlin to give the nonchalant young man a rough pat to the head. Caitlin wondered how Michael was even able to stay so calm while getting his head all roughed up by the huge man's petting.

Walking to her son, Samantha hands him back his textbooks, "Well, sweetie, you really are done. So now you have the rest of the day to yourself."

"So, does that mean-?" Life was suddenly back on Michael's face as soon as he heard those words.

"Yes, you can go back to watching those Superhero videos, but make sure that you don't forget to blink." She then handed him back his phone.

"Cool. Say does that also mean I can go out the lab and buy something from the food trucks?" He asked.

"Don't push it, we have all that we need in the downstairs mess hall." The woman scolded the frowning boy, "And don't give me that look either, you're eleven years too late to think I'd fall for that now." The boy clicked his tongue and plopped back onto the couch behind them.

Turning to Caitlin, Samantha smiled, "But as for you, if you ever feel that your about to digest your own stomach feel free to go to mess hall or the hospital if you're actually digesting yourself."

"O-Okay, thanks, Misses Samantha." Caitlin stuttered.

"No need to be so high strung, just try to make yourself at home, and you can drop the Misses. I never actually married." After giving Caitlin a comforting pat to the shoulder, Samantha took her leave, "Michael, show Caitlin to the lounge if she feels like it, okay?"

"Okay…" The boy lamely responded.

"Now then Finnie, it's about time that we get back to work." Samantha yawned and stretched.

"Are you sure that you don't want to go another round with me?" Finn shook one of the Wii remotes.

"Kicking the same ass over and over gets boring unless I can kick someone else's ass for a change." Samantha knowingly smirked at Katelyn.

"Thanks for the offer, but no. I'm not really in the mood to get my ass kicked and besides shouldn't you be sending that mutagenic gas to the labs in Metropolis to further test it before starting any further experiments?"

"I made it so I believe that its already fine enough to test on. Besides, I don't like to share too much of my work with outsiders even they are from another one of our branches much less any of the others below." Samantha explained albeit with some bitterness as Caitlin noticed the small frown etched on her aunt and Finn's faces.

"Anywho, I'll be at my station if you need me." Samantha waved as she exited the room.

"You little ones take care and don't be afraid to call us if ya need anything." Finn gave Michael one more rough pat to the head before following after his mother leaving only Katelyn.

Pulling a pair of green tinted goggles from her lab coat, Katelyn fastened them to her forehead before giving her niece a comforting hug, "It will take me a while, but I'll be sure to take you out for school shopping, okay?" Caitlin gave her a nod. "Good. Now enjoy yourself with the television, or whatever that's in here. Make sure to ask Michael if you want to get something downstairs at the lounge, and should you find the need to talk with him, well, I advise you contact me or Samantha in the other room should things get too out of hand."

"I heard that…" The teen groaned as he was still glued to his phone.

"Okay, I will, but what do you mean by get too out of hand?" Caitlin raised an eyebrow at that.

"…You'll know when you see it…"

"So, is it a good or a bad thing? At least give me something…"

"…" Katelyn placed a comforting hand on Caitlin's shoulder before walking out in silence leaving the red head in complete and utter confusion.

Okay, she really needs an answer to that. Thankfully, she'll have all of the time that she needed to get such answers from the boy. Yep, she'll get the truth one way or the other, and finally make good conversation with him.

Now how does she actually go about talking with him?

Another hurdle that she'll have to overcome.

* * *

"So bored…" Michael tiredly moaned as he laid phone down on the table.

It's been hours since he arrived at the labs, and now he has his butt glued to his seat again, but instead of homework, he's glued to his phone which is a massive improvement, don't get him wrong. But being cooped up in the highly air-conditioned room all day was absolute **hell** for someone like him. He was gonna crazy at this rate, and he has to deal with this crud for the next five weeks? How does his mad woman of a mother expect him to deal with this torture?

"…So…" Hesitantly raising her eyes to meet with his, Caitlin paused upon getting Michael's attention.

"Hm?"

"I was just…never mind…" Her attention soon went back to being glued to her own phone.

"…"

Well, he wouldn't know whether to call it good or bad but meeting up with Kit-Cat was a new change of pace from his regular visits to the lab. She seemed to be close to his age, which is a godsend since he's been tired of having Uncle Finn trying to relate to him. Who knows, she might even be easier to get along with than She Who Shall Not Be Named. No, she can be even better, which gives him an idea.

"So…" He started, wishing to cease the awkward silence.

"Yes…?" The girl hopefully looked up at him.

"You wanna check out the Lounge?" He stood up and pocketed his phone while awkwardly giving her smile.

"Sure, I-I mean, should I? I am currently engrossed in a compelling game of sudoku and I have to say it's quite engaging…"

"…Really?" He didn't know whether she was being serious or not because to him that sounds like a dreadful way of entertaining yourself.

"No, its really not. I'm so bored out of my mind that I'm already replaying the whole app for the fourth time…" She frowned at the boy and pleaded to him, "Please show me the way."

Oh, he will show you the way, he will show you the way to…FREEDOM!

Excitedly taking her by the wrist, he pulled her out of her seat and out into the main lab where their older adult guardians were too engrossed with their own projects to notice them. Perfect!

"Hey, mom, Aunt Kate! I'm going to show Kit-Cat to the lounge!" He shouted over the loud whirring and banging of Katelyn's tools.

"Mmm-hmm…"

"That's nice, sweetie…"

Both Katelyn and Samantha responded in kind rather unfocused. Perfect!

"Hm?" Michael noticed the Kit-Cat's confused expression, he must be smiling like an idiot.

"It's nothing, now shall we?" But as they made their way to the elevator, the mechanical whirring and digital hooting of a familiar pal of his scurries right past them carrying a box of parts.

Looking back, he gives the robotic monkey a quick wave hello, "What's up, Nikko." And in turn, the robotic monkey looked back to give the pair a glowing green-eyed wink.

"Oh my god, was that a-?"

"Robot monkey? Yes, yes it is." Pulling out his own official lab pass, Michael slid it across the elevator door lock once. Just as they entered, Kit-Cat's wide eyes were still locked onto the digital simian assisting Katelyn with a complete look of awe in her eyes. Looks like Aunt Kate's technophile tendencies runs in her family.

On their way down to the first floor, he realized Kit-Cat looking down at her feet and shuffling a bit beside him. Must be nervous, but he mentally promises her that the pay off will definitely be worth it after they get to spread their legs.

But for now, he has the chance to finally make some small talk, "So…you're Aunt Kate's niece, so did she ever mention me?" First, let's test the waters with a more personal question.

"Oh, well, yes, but not much besides the occasional mention here or two from the letters that she sent."

"Really? C'mon, spill it already! What did she say about me?" Without thinking, he excitedly pushed her to the wall of the elevator. Whoops, he went overboard again, and was he accidentally getting too worked up because her was getting a bit red despite the elevator temperature being irritatingly cool.

"W-Well, she did tell me some stuff about how smart you were for a kid your age." Uh-huh. "And how you're a bit special without exactly specifying what." Of course, Aunt Kate knew about his powers, so that's a given. "And in one of the most early letters about how she spent most of time literally babysitting a devil-child."

…Wait, what?

"…Devil-child?" His smile soon fell as he froze in place.

"Hm, oh, no, don't worry I think she was exaggerating a bit with that last one." Noticing his blank expression, Kit-Cat quickly uses her free hand to wave it off.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean, kids are a pain to watch, so it's not hard to see why she would exaggerate your child-like mischief." Caitlin laughed it off.

"Oh! I mean, yeah, I sure was a little hellraiser, weren't I? Hahahaha…erh…" He soon joined her in laughter before peering out in relief. Whew, that was close. He honestly believed that she knew about his secret. Wait, why would that be a bad thing? She's Aunt Kate's niece, so she can be trusted with his secret like how he trusts Jeff. But the thing about that was his mom doesn't know that Jeff knows.

It's not like he doesn't like her, but she's still technically a stranger to have around the lab so he won't have the freedom to walk around in his other form. So, showing her would benefit him, but wouldn't his mom and Aunt Kate be mad about that? Worst of all, would his mom begin to question how lax he was with sharing his secret and be so pissed to ask if he revealed himself to anyone like Jeff?

Welp, he'll have to worry about all that stuff should it happen anyways. Whatever happens, happens as they say.

As they reached the first floor, they walked through the long hallways to finally reach the large mess hall of the lab. Like always it was clean as a whistle especially with those Contaminant Obliterator cleaning units zipping about. Man, Aunt Kate's technophilic desires sometimes scares him since these small blocky cleaner robots were inspired from watching a junk piling bot's love story in space when he was a kid.

"Smells good in the-"

Taking a whiff of the delicious aroma, Kit-Cat immediately took a step toward the entrance but found it's door slammed in her face no thanks to Michael.

"There, I showed you the Mess Hall." He wore a sly grin.

"What?" Kit-Cat asked, inquisitively.

"Now let's go get ourselves some real food." He chuckled as he led her by the wrist down another hallway.

"But the real food was back there…" She sounded like she was still out of the loop, but she won't have to worry for much longer because after savoring some delicious truck food, she'll thank him. The walk to the lab's expansive outdoor garden was too far as the pair walked down the pathway towards Michael's intended destination.

But while the young man was engrossed in locating a certain spot in the lush hedges, Caitlin was too busy taking in the sight of the various exotic plants. Though she didn't take a gulp out of fear after the pair walked past a huge Venus Fly Trap sitting in its own corner of the garden with a red 'BEWARE' sign.

"Don't worry, as long as you keep your distance, then it can't bite you."

"Gee, that's not at all frightening…" Kit-Cat sighed.

"Well, yeah, but thanks to one of the Scientists creating a new experimental mulch, it caused it to mutate with some very bad results." Michael explained.

"How bad?"

"The very same scientist lost his arm trying to feed it." He chuckled a bit as he saw Kit-Cat's face pale, "Don't worry, your Aunt was able to craft him a new replacement. Plus, we've made peace with it, we feed it dead rats and other failed test subjects while it leaves us alone."

"They haven't tried to-?" Kit-Cat imitated a pair of scissors with her free hand.

"Oh, we tried…" From trying to uproot, burn it and even using so many enhanced weed killers still couldn't kill the monstrosity. It was as if the thing was getting to adapt to each extermination attempt. His own mom was insistent that he tried, but he opted against the idea. He knew his powers were weird, but he didn't want to make the plant so stronger than him that it would potentially cause more trouble than it's already making.

"J-Just stay fifteen feet away, no, twenty tops just in case…" He warned.

"Noted, and…I've been meaning to ask, but you're still holding my wrist." She nudged her head to his warm grip.

"Shoot!" He must have been hurting her this whole time without realizing it, "I am so sorry, I completely forgot."

"No, it's fine, really. I mean it was weird at first, but I didn't really mind it as much." Kit-Cat smiled and shrugged.

"Well, if your fine then I guess I shouldn't stress over it then, now onto you..."

Taking a knee at a portion of the hedges near a brick walled fence, Michael effortlessly began pushing through the thick grassy bushes all while Caitlin explored the part of the garden that they were in.

Looking down at one of the many ponds that she first saw upon entering the labs, she spots many blue koi swimming about in the somewhat murky waters of the pond. Kneeling down, she curiously reached her hand out to feel one of their glistening strikingly blue scales.

Taking his attention away from the cleared hedge to look at her, in a panic, Michael rushed to her side and pulled her hand away, "Easy…"

"What?"

"You don't want to touch those trust me." He breathed out with a 'phew'.

Shuffling back with her in tow, he picks up a nearby rock and casually tosses it into the pond. The koi were swimming about in a panic then immediately a violent stream of crackling electricity. Even from a considerable distance, he can lightly feel some of the residual electricity prickle against his skin.

"W-What just happened?" The look on Kit-Cat's face was priceless.

"That my dear Kit-Cat is the lab's backup energy source, the Volt Koi." He dramatically presented the fish but quickly jumped back after seeing the pond start to flicker again, "By splicing the DNA of electrical eels with koi fish, a scientist was able to create such cool pets that provide bio-energy to power up the whole place in case of blackouts."

"T-That's amazing. I've read of the new practices of splicing animal DNA together, but I've never seen it put to action." Kit-Cat wondered aloud, "I mean, scientifically, I have heard of some rumors about some new hero who could merge animals together. So, who was the scientist, who did this?"

"Some weirdo name Milo, but really talk about him after Uncle Finn fired him." Michael said.

"Seriously? And here I was hoping that I can see his work in action." Kit-Cat continued to marvel at the glowing pond of electrical koi.

"Don't feel too bad, the guy was always a bit trigger happy with his DNA splicing. Heck, he didn't even come up with the Volt Koi, my mom basically gave him the idea after his last failed experiment to splice an electrical eel and an attack dog failed." He walked over to opened hedges and began peeling off a medium sized metal plate attached to the brick wall.

"Makes sense since your mom is the labs top geneticist, a pointer from her must have been a good show of faith in his work." Kit-Cat said.

"When it came to my mother's good faith, he would bend over backwards to get it…" Michael shuddered as he bitterly repressed the thought. Some things that he found out were best left unsaid.

"What happened to the dog?" Kit-Cat asked, curiously looking at him get to work on whatever he was doing.

"The dog was supposed to channel its electricity to its teeth so it can stun criminals, but instead the electrical current accidentally stopped its heart." Michael shrugged.

"Aw, poor dog."

"Yeah, we tried burying it in the garden, but while some of the groundskeepers were digging, they accidentally left the dog near the…you know…" He jabbed his thumb back to the green monstrosity just sitting there, bidding its time for its next prey.

"Awww!" Kit-Cat moaned, sorrowfully.

"Yep, just don't mess with it, and you'll live longer. Now…shall we?" After finally prying the metal panel open, he gestured for her to go first.

"Shall we what?" Kit-Cat awkwardly looked around.

"Go get some food, c'mon." He grinned, "This leads to the outside of the facility, so we won't get caught by the guards up front." He's actually pretty proud of the opening, he made it a few years ago out of boredom and since then he's been able to get some fun out of his visits to L.A.

"Wait, so you want us to sneak behind your mom and my aunt's back just to buy some outside food?" Kit-Cat asked.

"Not just any outside food, Food Truck meals… There's this awesome Chicken and Waffles truck that just to die for!" He excitedly bounced over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "You'll love it…"

"But won't we get in trouble if they find out?"

"Only if we don't make it back quick enough and trust me, when they get knee deep into work, they don't suspect a thing." He laughed as he started crawling through the opening, "Now come on."

"I don't know…" She reluctantly looked to upper floors of the lab, worried that somehow her aunt is monitoring them.

"Hey," He stopped crawling to give her a big smile, hopefully it was confident enough to sway her, "We'll get back safely, and to make it official. I promise to protect you from any absolute harm with my life until we get back, okay?"

"…Pfft…" She laughed, why was she laughing? She patted his shoulder and urged him to crawl through first, "Alright, you don't have to act so serious, I'll trust you just don't play around like that, okay? You sounded serious there for a second."

"Caitlin," Michael looked back at her, no smile attached this time, "I am serious." He knew that he was basically getting Caitlin into one of his ploys, so its his responsibility to ensure her safety. Especially on the streets of L.A. Looks like his words did get to her this time because her reaction was that of stunned silence.

"I-I see, sorry…" She averted her gaze to the ground.

"Don't be, just wanted to be clear was all." He chuckled as he resumed his crawling with Caitlin following shortly behind him. Thankfully, the crawl through the wide opening was brief as pebbly dirt grated on their clothes as they found themselves crawling into a nearby alley to the side of the facility's main grounds.

Emerging from it, they were met with the zooming cars going down the Central L.A. streets while incredibly high skyscrapers stood high above almost touching the clouds. It was a usual sight for Michael, but when he looked at Kit-Cat's overwhelmed expression, he couldn't help but laugh at her.

It takes a poke to the cheek to break her out of her stupor, "A penny for your thought?" Which should be about a hundred pennies since she must have had so many things on her mind from the sight alone.

"Y-Yeah, sorry about that. I was this way during the car ride here and just wow!" She breathlessly looked at the busy streets filled with so many diverse people, "Its certainly not Antarctica, I'll give you that."

"Wait, you came from Antartica?" Michael gasped.

"Yup."

"How are you still alive?" Just the thought of such a place had him shivering at the thought, he'd be dead if he ever went there unprepared.

"Plenty and plenty of layers, and my mom's chicken soup." He nodded at that, but still, anyone who could live in such a hellish place was Superman in his book. Well, he wouldn't go that far, they couldn't possibly hope to match the awesomeness of Mr. Big Blue himself. Starting their walk, they made conversation as Kit-Cat mostly followed Michael down the sidewalk.

The food trucks were always a few blocks away from the lab at the same lot. Hopefully, they weren't too late to get there before a line starts. It would usually be way faster for him to just use his super speed to get there in secret, but with Kit-Cat at his side, he couldn't risk getting her into any trouble, well, more trouble than he's already putting her through.

"So, what made you come to this place besides the many amusement parks and celebrities?" He asked.

"Well, the amusement parks are a bonus, but I'd rather not meet my favorite movie actors. Afraid that meeting my heroes won't be as glamorous as I fantasized as a kid." Kit-Cat air quoted.

"Hah, you wish, if I had the chance to meet my hero, I bet he'll be cooler than I even imagined." The chances of that are low because what are that the Justice League will actually come to Los Angeles much less a peaceful city like Rialto. At best, the most common crime around the two cities was the standard street level stuff. Batman would be cool to meet too, but quite honestly, he doesn't quite see the vigilante ever moving his main station of crimefighting away from Gotham. And to be frank that's probably a good thing because that crazy city needs all the help it could get when it comes to crime.

There's also the fact that he's a bit intimidated by the masked hero, and who wouldn't be. Just hearing rumors of the guy and seeing any short vids of him doing his brand of 'work' on the web just proves how much of a presence he has.

"I came here because I've always been closer to Aunt Katelyn than my other relatives. Plus, she sometimes reminds me of my mom." Kit-Cat scratched her neck and wistfully sighed.

"Makes sense." If Aunt Kate reminded her of her mother, then its logical to conclude that she was no longer with us. Michael frowned, so she must've moved here because of that, eh? Well, he won't pry her for more on that. Besides it would probably be a good idea to shift the topic towards something else, "So what's your dad like?" He didn't get a response right away, but still kept the question rolling.

"I've heard that from Aunt Kate that she has a brother, so what's he like?"

"He's…" The tone of Kit-Cat's voice sounded bitter as he looked her way to notice her narrowed eyes lost in thought, "…Fine…I guess…" Daddy issues then? Man, she must REALLY be going through a lot. Explains why she's doesn't share the same Ivo surname as Aunt Kate. He should probably steer clear of that topic too, geez, its like he's navigating across a verbal minefield at this point.

"Neat, hey, look here!" He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pressed his cheek to hers.

"What the hell?" Kit-Cat jumped a bit out of surprise, then rubbed her eyes after experiencing a sharp flash of light.

"There now we can commemorate our first act of teenage rebellion as friend together." He laughed, now that was a way to lighten the mood.

"A little warning would have sufficed." Kit-Cat rubbed her eyes, but lightly laughed herself as well. See? Now wasn't the time to be hung up on some angst, it was a time of joy where they should try to uplift each other as frie-holy crap, he should definitely send a pic of that to Jeff! He's going to be SO jealous!

"Sorry got a little excited. Now lets talk about something fun like heroes. Who's your favorite?" He giddily smiled as he intently watched her. She must be wracking for an answer because she was getting wound up in thought.

"Lets just say I don't have a favorite, but what's yours." She nervously laughed.

"Easy, Superman." Unzipping his black hoodie, he proudly puffed out his chest to reveal the Man of Steel's logo on his blue shirt, "He's honestly the best one."

"Yep, he's beats basically any other hero in terms of his powers, so I guess he's the best when you look at him that way." Kit-Cat explained so matter of fact, "I mean, the news have told us that he's some alien from outer space, so he has that going for him."

"Yeah, but isn't he cool despite all of that stuff?" Michael's smile slowly fell, she must see why Superman's such a great hero like he does, right?

"I guess, but isn't he sort of old fashioned for today's standards?"

"Yep, and that's why he's so cool." Michael laughed, she must be getting the gist of what he means now.

"Y-Yeah, I guess I sort of see that." Or not, based on her irked expression.

So, she was in the same boat as Jeff when it came to how they view the big guy. Welp, he can't sway just anyone that quickly. He'll just have to keep believing and trying to finally get them to see what he means eventually. After all, he's also free to do what he wants despite what others may think.

Their walk across central Los Angeles was pleasant enough even while passing a few oddballs here and there. He doesn't know why, but for some strange reason, he freaked after walking past a bald man with a skull tattooed to his face and not to even mention his ghastly choice in black contact lenses that made him look like a poor knock of Jack Skellington. Besides from that the overall experience of just getting to know each other was nice.

It wasn't until, Michael noticed the bulge in his pocket, and no not that kind of bulge, you naughty, naughty boys and girls. The pocket holding that weird weapon that the punk, who kidnapped Rose was using. He now had the chance to figure things out, and just in time too as the food trucks finally came into view with a long line. It was actually the first time he's happy that he was late to order some Chicken and Waffles.

Crossing another street to finally reach the lot, the pair looked around all of the many options that each truck had to offer. But while Kit-Cat was too engrossed about which one to start with, Michael was more concerned about how to give her the slip without looking like an asshole and breaking his promise to her in the process.

But low and behold, a symphony of sirens could be heard coming their way along with some violent banging. Thanks to his enhanced hearing, he could tell that they would be coming to their vicinity at any moment. Must have been a few ambulances or police cars, he didn't really pay the situation much mind because now he had a perfect excuse.

When they get close enough, he'll tell Kit-Cat that he'll see what's happening while she waits in line. Its short and simple, and to make it quick, he'll duck into an alley and his zoom through the many alleys around them for some answers. Five minutes should be enough and believable before returning to her.

Great, now he actually has a plan. Now its time to execute it.

"Wow, they even make falafel here…" Kit-Cat murmured to herself and turned to him, "So what are you going to get?"

"Pfft, Chicken and waffles, but you know…" He trailed off in faux reluctance, and cue the sirens. The loud disturbance garnered everyone's attention. Perfect.

"What's that all about?" Kit-Cat asked.

"Good question, say why don't you stay in line while I go and che-!" Wait a minute, the sounds of sirens were getting drowned out by some rumbling and the banging only grew worse. What exactly was going on?

"Michael?" Kit-Cat called him, but he was too busy focusing on the growing rumbling as the very earth beneath began to shake rather violently. What's with the sudden earthquake and since when did the sky get so dark, it's the middle of the afternoon!

"Michael!?" Kit-Cat screamed, stunned after getting a glimpse of the sight above.

Wait a minute…

"MOVE!" As he reached to push Kit-Cat away, Michael's cry was soon drowned out by the thunderous sounds of metal crashing and glass breaking against the lot's asphalt.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading guys, and I hoped that you enjoyed the new chapter along with Caitlin's introduction. I warn you all get ready because next time, I'm finally going to start writing some real action for the story!**

 **Welp, I wish you all an honorable Veteran's Day, and be safe!**

 **I'm Out So Peace Out and have a blessed day.**


	5. The Arch-Demon drops in (5)

**Chapter 5** : **The Arch-Demon drops in (5)**

* * *

"H…y…k.i…"

"Mmmm…"

"K…id…?"

"Wha-?"

"Kid, are you alright?"

The loud ringing in Caitlin's ears muddled the incoherent words of a stranger. But by the second, she was able to regain enough consciousness to finally open her eyes to see a concerned man watching her from above. She sat straight up in a panic as a whiplash of her emotions hit her all at once.

"W-Who are y-ow…" Caitlin lightly rubbed her arm of a light bruise.

"Easy, it looks like you took quite a nasty fall, but fortunately, you got off easy compared to the others." The man sadly looked on and Caitlin followed his line of sight and found such a horrific sight around her.

"Oh god…" Bloody and battered bodies laid on the ruined streets and sidewalks around the lot, or what could be what's left of it, as an array of destroyed flaming cars were strewn about the desolated area. Looking closely, she could even see cop cars capsized and flipped upside down under huge ridges of the torn apart street.

S-She could even see the bodies motionlessly hit their arms against the ceiling.

"W-What happened?" She could barely get out the words to say amongst all of the devastation around her.

"I'm just as lost as you kid…" The man groaned in pain as he clutched his bleeding head, "One second, I see a bunch of cops chasing after an armored truck, then next this huge random ass earthquake from nowhere tears everything up this whole street apart…"

"The whole street…?" Caitlin gasped.

"Yeah, I was able to check a bit ahead after your boyfriend saved me." The man coughed.

"My boyfriend, no, I don't have a-wait, Michael?" It hit Caitlin at that moment, just as they were getting in line, Michael was acting a bit weird before a huge SUV was hurtling towards her from the sky. Just after that, she heard Michael scream for her before everything went black.

"Yup, when those cars started getting thrown off the street, I was one of the poor unlucky bastards who got crushed by them." The man looked to trembling legs as he still felt the pangs of the impact on them, "Just before I could even call for help, that kid pushed it off me like nothing." He looked at said car in the ruined lot and shivered at the horrifying memory of almost kicking the bucket.

"And after that there I was blubbering a thank you to him, and he had already moved on to help someone else being crushed to death." The sight was uplifting, hell, he even found himself helping the kid especially when it came time to rescuing the vendors trapped in those tipped over food trucks, "He just kept on going and going. After a while, he told me to watch over you while he went out to see if anyone else was hurt."

"What?" Finally realizing the warmth wrapped around her, Caitlin pulled Michael's black hoodie off her shoulders. She didn't want to be dubious about his promise from earlier, he seemed serious about it too. She remembers. Him pushing her out of the way from that car. It was actually heartwarming and she was grateful that he was okay, but she couldn't just let him go off by himself.

They had to go back to the lab before something more horrible rears its ugly head around the corner.

Standing up on wobbly legs, Caitlin properly put on Michael's jacket, "Which way did he go?"

"Uh…up the street heading towards the highway."

"Thanks…" Caitlin breathed out before making a run after the boy on the demolished sidewalk. Even in a crisis, safety comes first after all, she thought.

"Hey, wait, where are you going!? The ambulance will be here soon!" The man shouted and waved his phone, suggestively.

"Thanks for watching over me, but I really have to find my FRIEND!" Caitlin made sure to emphasize that bit not just for the man, but mostly for herself before she gets too caught up in her emotions that might lead into some awkward territory once she meets up with Michael. Dear god, the damages just keep getting worse as she advanced down the road, the very street itself had a fissure going down it.

She's heard of California having some serious earthquakes, but this one seemed too isolated. If something like a quake was to tear apart the road and send so many cars flying, then how come none of the buildings are experiencing any damages?

 _'Whatever it was, please, just keep safe before I get to you, Michael…' She heavily breathed as she pushed herself through the smoky road._

 ***CLICK!***

* * *

 _'C'mon, Mike! You gotta move it!' Michael thought in a panic as he rushed down the destroyed streets of L.A. as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn't even waste a second to switch into his other form after seeing Caitlin unconscious. It was his duty to protect her, and he would have almost broken it had he not push her out of the way._

He doesn't know the extent of his own durability, but he can actually take most hits without feeling the pain. She couldn't. Most of the other innocent people laying about on the streets injured and unconscious couldn't either. That's why he needs to stop whoever made this mess, and the apparent source was the armored car that those cops were chasing.

"A-Anyone? H-Help, please!" The mumbled cries of a woman trapped in a flipped over van could be heard.

 _'At this rate…ugh…' Michael stopped his running and turned back to help._

The vehicle was only a few miles away, and he knew he would've been there to stop them by now, but the panicked cries of those around him were too much for him to ignore. From saving another man from getting crushed by his own car to using his own claws as a makeshift jaws of life to pull out an elderly old man, who crashed his car into another oncoming car. Most of his saves were met with a predictable scream to the face while the rare occasion of a few were too dazed or unconscious just to not notice his frightening appearance.

"I-I can't move! P-please! Anyone, h-help m-!" The woman's words died in her throat as five sharp claws dug into her car door and ripped it off its hinges, soon enough a wave of relief washed over her, "T-Thank you…!"

"Here…" Crouching down, Michael revealed his unsettling visage to the woman and expected an ear-splitting scream, but no, he actually received tears of joy from her. He placed a reassuring arm around her while cutting the seatbelt, and just she was no longer trapped, he quickly pulled her out before gravity unjustly slammed her face first into the glass covered ceiling below her.

"There you go…" He trotted over to the sidewalk and laid her down, "Don't worry, the ambulance will be here soon so just stay there and get some rest, okay?" He was about to jump back into the chase but stopped once he felt the distressed woman tug on his sleeve.

"Thank you…" She sobbed as her grip on his sleeve tightened.

 _'She's shaking…' He thought, poor lady must have been really scared after being forced into this mess._

"W-Who are you?" She shakily asked.

Gently removing her hand off him, he comfortingly held it and tried his best to dial down his distorted voice to say, "…A friend…" He was giving her what he hoped was a warm smile, but considering her startled reaction to it, he mentally kicked himself for thinking his terrifying appearance would translate that well to someone, who wasn't a sweet kid like Rose.

Stepping back, he gave her one last wave goodbye before taking off leaving a gust of wind in his wake as it hit the bewildered woman, who just watched the creature disappear down the street in the blink of an eye.

 _'C'mon, Mike, you can do it…'_ Focusing his sight, he looked a bit further ahead to see the darn armored car still ramming cars off the street or to the opposite facing lane. And to make matters worse, they're about to enter one of the busiest intersections in the city leading towards the highway! If that quaking thing was their work, then there was going to be a ton of damage.

Usually, him using his super speed would help him keep up with most cars but estimating the distance the armored car was from barreling through that intersection, he probably wouldn't make it before any of the chaos ensues. Meaning, he'll have to go all out with his running.

 _'I can worry about mom shouting at me about holding back later. This is actually an emergency!' In the midst of running, he took one long leap across one city block forward and tensed his leg muscles, 'If I don't then people will die!'_

 ***THOOOOOOM!* *CRAAACK~!***

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

And just as his tensed front food launched itself off the ground, Michael had found himself leaving a large crater in his wake as he propelled himself through the air. He let out a panicked scream and flailed his arms about in the air as the force he had thrown himself into was way too much than he wanted. He just needed the extra boost to run with not shoot himself out like a cannonball.

Everything was a blur for him, the building, the demolished cars, and even the blue skies above were hard for him to discern. But eventually everything soon came to a stop as he faceplanted into some smooth pavement. Getting on his knees, he touches every part of his body as a way of verifying that everything was intact.

"I-I'm alive? I'm alive!" Michael happily cheered as his distorted voice bellowed out for all to hear.

"HOLY SHIT! What the fuck is that!?"

"Crap…" Looking around, Michael was surprised to find himself at the end of the road leading towards the busy cross-section, but before he could lament going a bit further than the armored car, all eyes from the sidewalks were all on him.

 _'Dammit, what do I say?' This was the first time that he'd show himself to a public crowd while in this form, 'Okay, just play it cool…'_

"W-Wassup?" His nervousness was hard to be discerned on his demonic looking face, so instead his uncomforting smile only further frightened the surrounding public to either scream and run or stand completely still in either fear or bewilderment at the sight of him.

 ***FLASH!* *FLASH!***

"Whoa, man, did you hear that thing?"

"I know, just look at how metal it looks, bro!"

Laughed some skater teen with his friend as they pulled out their phones and started snapping pictures and recording the nervous devil.

 _'Oh no…'_

"I can't wait to post this on youtube! Maybe I'll get as many views like that first ever Justice League video during that whole alien invasion in D.C."

 _'No, no, no, no, no!' Michael was literally breaking down from the inside, he was already pushing it with this whole car thing, but if he was actually shown like this on the internet his mom would kill him!_

 ***HONK!* *HONK!***

But before he could stop the annoying skater dudes, he was reminded of the armored truck recklessly driving his way. His head snapped back to face the large vehicle charging right for him. His worries over being shown to the web was dashed by his growing anger at the destruction it had wrought to the people and Kit-Cat.

"Get out of the way or get ran the fuck ov-!" From out the armored truck's window, a man wearing a strange black mask with a lightning bolt shouted out to the teen in their way, but stopped after getting a good look.

"You…!" The distortion in Michael's voice only grew deeper as he lowered himself to take a few heavy stomps in the direction of the oncoming vehicle. Just as he was just a mere feet away from colliding with the truck, he quickly swung back his arms and threw them in front of his body.

 ***THUUUUUNK!* *SCREEEEEEEE~!***

"What in the hell…" The white eyes of the man's full faced mask widened as the armored truck was stopped dead its tracks as the two back tires tirelessly burned against the black pavement of the road. The two front tires were futilely running in the air as Michael not only caught the heavy vehicle, but was actually lifting its front half thanks to his claws digging through its thick, steel hood.

Barely exerting enough effort to match how he propelled himself earlier, Michael began to shift his weight to the side as he pulled the whole truck with him.

"Let's see how you like it, assholes!"

 ***SLAAAAAAM!* *SHATTER!* *SHATTER!***

Like nothing, he flipped the entirety of the truck on its side while being careful of the remaining civilians watching from the sidelines. Good, now with that crises averted, he'll have time to finally restrain the guys responsible for the mess back there. Making his way to the roof of capsized truck, he could hear a pair of voices arguing from within.

"Shit…shit…what was that thing?"

"I dunno, but it just flipped our ride like nothin'! Guess it's time to finally use these suits you made us."

"Are you nuts, I doubt these things would work on something that could lift a twelve ton truck, Lester!"

"For the last time, no real names during a job, _Cracker_! If you wanna leave the dough then fine, but I'm not the one who's desperate!"

"I'm not saying to drop the dead weight, we can still carry enough and ru-!"

Having heard enough of their bickering, Michael dug his claws through the truck's roof and tore it open to see the two douchebags responsible. Looking up at him were two men wearing the strangest of outfits.

The one in the driver's seat was the more familiar one with the lightning bolt mask, but his entire look consisted of a faded black and red suit with a bit of insulated padding surrounding the upper part of it. He could tell because the suit had some rips in it probably from all of the dangerous circuitry that were sloppily ingrained into it from the chest to the suit's black gauntlets.

The other one in the passenger seat wore a yellow padded suit with brown shoulder pads and brown boots, and just like the other guy, he wore a mask except his was yellow with blue eyes and with a black crack symbol going down it. The guy also wore a bulky pair of brown gauntlets with digital screens attached to them.

The two were a rather odd pair to look at, their equipment was lacking, but despite it all they're still criminals, who caused untold destruction and apparently based on their bickering, robbery.

"Hey there, dudes. Wanna make this easy for yourselves by giving up now because I believe the cops can arrange for you guys to continue your little conversation in a ride to the big house." Michael threatened by purposely widening his creepy smile.

"H-Holy shit that's freaky…" The man garbed in the yellow suit shuddered.

"Especially up close, it looks like as if a devil fucked a jack-o-lantern to make this freak of nature…" The man garbed in the red and black suit whispered.

 _'O-Okay that was hurtful…' Michael sniffled._

"I-I guess you want it the hard way then…!" Doing his best to hide his hurt feelings, Michael immediately reached out for the one at the drivers as the pair of criminals screamed out of fear. Just as he grabbed the black suited man, their screaming only grew. He'll just give them a held back love tap and put them to bed.

 _'I'll just make this quick and…' His train of thought was interrupted as the black suited man grabbed his arm, 'What the-?" Soon a viscous amount of electrical sparks soon illuminated the man's tightened grasp as it began building up._

"Hands off, freak!"

"Gagagagagagagagagagagaga!" Getting a sense of deja vu, Michael experienced a painful surge of lightning going through his body. The sudden jolt to his nervous system caused him to jump back and start twitching from the sudden shock.

 _"Gagh, w-whwh-what the hell was th-ha-hahat!?" It was way worse than getting hit by the volt koi, way worse!_

"Hehehe, see? That sure put it down." Crawling out through the roof's opening, the two robbers helped each other up as they looked down at the twitching young man(?) on the floor.

"Yeah, yeah, that's great and all but we lost our ride, and-!" The sudden flashing from the nearby skater dudes still recording caught the yellow suited guy's attention.

"Hey, punks! Did I give you permission to take my picture!" The black suited man aimed his gauntlets at the skater dudes and released a stream of lightning near the sidewalk at their feet. The now smoking crater gave the two doofuses an actual reason to run along with any curious bystanders, who weren't afraid by the red creature.

"Les-!" The yellow suited man screamed.

"Ahem!" The black suited man rudely coughed.

"Er…Electrocutioner."

"Thank you, yes, Cracker?"

"You don't have to shoot at the kids, we just need to get ourselves a new ride and book it before the cops get here!" The cars in the intersection were starting to slow as they continued making their way while still being nosy enough to slow down and look at the oddly dressed pair.

"Oh please, they won't be flanking us from behind so relax. And that's pretty hypocritical coming from you, I'm not the one, who leveled all those street blocks back there!" The Electrocutioner laughed, "By the way, you've done good work with this tech."

 _'So, then it was…?' Michael glared at the yellow suited man from below with most of the twitching almost out of his system._

"Though I appreciate the thanks, I only did that because I wanted to shake off the cops. Look, I'm trying to get in good with the big guys, but I'm not going to cross that many lines to do it…" Cracker soon walked towards the back of the truck and opened the doors with duffel bags full of money spilling out, "Grab a car and prepare our getaway before we're surrounded by the cops because I seriously doubt I'd be able to hold my body out long enough to shake them up again."

The intersection still had three roads pointing inward at their direction. They may not have to worry about the police going through that train wreck of a mess they left behind them but getting through three streets full of cops would be suicide.

"How in the hell do I even use any of those damned things back to work?" The Electrocutioner groaned, those quakes basically left most of the vehicles a mess.

"Then just get one that works, dumbass." The Cracker pointed to the slowed cars on the other three streets.

"Sounds like a plan and I say we should get ourselves a truck…" Cracking his knuckles, the Electrocutioner slowly walked his way to the middle of the busy street as volts of lightning gathered around his fists. But as he takes his next step, a red hand latches onto his ankle, "Seriously, you're still u-uuuaaagh!"

Like a doll, the electrocutioner was effortlessly thrown down the ruined street past the Cracker, who was struggling to carry as many duffel bags as he could. And before he could react to his partner flying over his head, he found the air knocked out of his lungs as a red blur heavily slams him against the remains of the armored truck.

"So, you're the one who caused that earthquake…" Michael growled as steam began to emit itself out of his wide mouth, "Now let's see how you like getting your world shaken!"

"L-Let me g-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Lifting the Cracker into the air by the neck of his suit, Michael used his strength to rapidly shake the man as violently as he could to give him the same taste of what everyone and Kit-Cat had to go through. He took heed not to go too far otherwise, he'd force the guy's neck to break.

 _'He's had enough.' A good scare like that should teach him a lesson._

"Y-You-hurp! No, can't-otherwise it'd get all over my face!" Cracker gagged as he held his mouth closed through his mask. There now that he's had a taste of his own medicine, it was time to knock him out with a good old backhanded slap, which would have done the job had Michael been more aware of the criminal's partner.

"Gaaaaaaagh!" Another bolt of electrified energy struck him from the side as the Electrocutioner limped his way over to the two.

"Try throwing me again you, asshole, see what happens!" The Electrocutioner continued blasting the teen as much as he could as Michael's grip eventually released the Cracker, leaving the crook to breathe heavily.

"Urp…thanks…" The Cracker gagged once more before clenching his fists, and soon after a beeping sound could be heard from his gauntlets.

"Then knock his ass out already!" The Electrocutioner growled as he began to notice his attacking steadily losing its effect on the teen as he began to pick himself up.

 _'I-I'm getting used to it…' Michael stuttered as he began to push back the lightning by shielding himself with his outstretched hand. Sure, the Volt Koi weren't this powerful, but the pain not so bad when he's not getting completely surprised._

"Step off!" Getting completely surprised, a powerful vibrational field surrounded the Cracker's bulky gauntlets and immediately sent Michael flying once it hit his chest. There's also the fact that like with the lightning, being hit with a force strong enough to make earthquakes freaking hurts.

"Gaaaaagh!" The sounds of honking mixed with the ringing sound from the impact ringing out in his head. Taking a deep breath, he looks back to see that he was hurtling towards the busy street ahead and into a bus.

"Oh, dear god!"

 ***SLAM!* *SKIIIIID~!* *HONK!* *HON-!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!* *CRASH!***

And from there it was like pushing down a row of dominos, after he crashed through the bus' windshield, the frightened bus driver accidentally crashed into an oncoming car which was followed by another car crashing behind the bus, and sadly with another car blindsiding the side of the bus as it entered the intersection. And those were the accidents that he could keep up with as the crashing only continued.

Picking himself up while the civilians in the bus and cars ran out screaming, Michael could hear the two familiar voices of the criminals amidst the maelstrom of panicked screeching and car collisions.

"There that ought to keep him down for a while."

"That's what you said last time after you literally blasted that thing with enough electricity to power a house. Just get the money into one of the cars so we can leave, Lester!"

"No real names during a job, call me Electrocuti-!"

"Who gives a fuck, just grab the money!"

 _'Oh no you don't!' Michael almost fell over his own two feet as he stood up on shaky legs, 'Damn that really hurt, and ugh…m-my stomach…' No, he'll be fine. He just has to power through the pain, and man, it hurts so bad. He's never been injured this much before, but thankfully, the pain was quickly ebbing away especially after getting back outside under the sun._

"There we go…there we…urp…go…" Steam flowed out of his jagged mouth, unconsciously as he pushed through the mess of empty cars towards the pair of masked men packing duffel bags into the trunk of a hot pink pickup truck.

"Really, Cracker, do we really need to take the car that'll make us stick out more like a couple of assholes!?"

"Shut up, it's the only one that's close and still functioning!" Both Cracker and the Electrocutioner slammed their doors as the pink truck's engines began to roar. They were getting away.

"Stop…hurk…right-oh god-hngh…t-there…" The steam flowing out of his mouth only grew as he stumbled his way after them, if he ran, he could definitely catch them before their tires would even leave tread marks. But that unsettling feeling in his stomach only grew worse, the pain was almost gone, but those vibrations really must have done a number on him because-because…

"I-I think I'm about to heav-!" And letting nature take it course, Michael only did what was natural and spewed from his mouth a fierce wave of flames that shot past the pink truck and engulfed the entirety of the downed armored truck.

 ***Kaboooooooooooooom!***

"…I am so going to be in a lot of trouble…"

Resulting in a huge explosion that decimates a quarter of the street leaving around a multitude of flames to spread around to the other cars. He quickly ran to the flames and patted them out with little to no injury before any more explosions would happen. Hearing the annoying sound of rubber skidding, he took his attention off the spreading fires and towards the hot pink truck already driving off into the distance.

 _'Oh no you don't-!' But the moment, he set his eyes on the escaping criminals, the spreading flames eventually found its was towards of the nearby capsized cars leaking gasoline._

 ***Kabooooooom!* *Booooooom!* *Booooom!* *Booooom!***

"O-Oh come on…" Michael grunted as the car then caused another chain of tipped over cars to explode in unison as he laid flat on his arm upon hitting the ground after getting dangerously flung from the explosion's force. The pink truck was already off in the distance, he could catch up if he ran after them.

"Huh?" Funny, he right arm felt strange, it felt all loose. He soon began to panic afraid that he might have broken it but noticed no real pain, "Did the explosion knock something loose or wh-?"

 ***Plop!***

"The flip?" He finally observed his arm to see that his right arm limply stretched out to hit the floor, "Uegh, wh-what is this?" This was definitely new, but his thoughts couldn't linger for long on it as a news helicopter came on the scene right above him as the sounds of police cars blaring out their sirens were closing in on the ruined street.

Pupil-less eyes widening, Michael looked at the escaping pink truck then back to the helicopter obviously filming him.

"Yeah, I think it's time to go…" He gulped as he struggled to gather his stretched arm in his left and began to ran down the street that those bastards left a mess. And in a red blur, he was gone amidst the smoke and fires, and just in time too as the police finally across the scene in their cruisers.

He had to hide and going too deep down the road would escalate things since he could hear the sound some ambulances miles away. He did not want to bring any further attention to himself after that failed fiasco of a plan. So, he scurried over to the closest alley that he could find and hid behind one of the dumpsters while his stretched out arm was sticking out of the corner like a sore thumb.

"Deep breaths, Mike, deep breaths… This is obviously…new, but if you relax then may it will…" He breathed as his arm muscles soon began to contract, inching his limb back to its ordinary size.

"There we go, t-there we g-ngh!" The process was taking too long, and his muscles were actually getting too sore, and once he broke concentration, his stretched arm only grew further as the contracted muscles relaxed and released itself like a bullet and punched a hole into the other wall of the alley.

"Whoa…" Michael said breathlessly as he roped back his arm, "Strange, but cool…" It was going to be tiring to pull the whole thing back, maybe landing on his arm back there might have forced his arm to do 'this'. He needed to hurry back to see if Caitlin was okay, and he certainly can't do that while looking like this.

"Maybe my arm will go back to normal if I…" Reverting back to his regular look, Michael noticed his arm slowly inching back to its natural length, but it stops halfway, "Great, guess having half of my powers like this applies to the lengths that my arm stretches…" Well, at least it was shorter now, he can probably retract it without getting tired.

Gripping his arm, Michael's attention was drawn away from his predicament to focus on the distant screaming of a woman not too far from him. It could have been some lady, who just woke up after the tremors. But no, he recognized that horrified shriek.

"Kit-Cat?" And without a moment's hesitation, Michael transformed back into his devil form. Tensing his legs, he leaps on top of the nearby building's roof in the direction of the screaming. He growled out of irritation after realizing that his stretched out arm was flapping about behind him as he jumped from roof to roof.

 _'Doesn't matter. Have to hurry to Kit-Cat! Please be safe…' He was already near breaking his promise after she almost got crushed by a car. It hasn't been that long since he left, so what kind of trouble found her? Nonetheless anything or anyone else that's threatening her safety had to be stopped. And unlike with those jerks that escaped, he'll have to stop holding back too much of his strength to get more better results._

After bounding off a few more rooftops, he finally found the general area where her voice was heard, another alleyway.

"Oh, this can't be good."

Peering over the edge of the building, he spots the familiar red head shaken up as she stared at a man dressed in a leather jacket and a black mask with white eyes, the same as those fleeing robbers. Not to mention, he's holding some strange gun that appearance-wise looked awfully like that plasma knife that Rose's kidnapper had.

 _'Yep, he's definitely connected. Let's kick his ass…' Hopping off the side of the roof, Michael roughly landed in between the two with his stretched her arm flapping about behind him._

 ***THUD!***

"Sorry for dropping in, but I just had to come crashing the party after seeing this lovely lady getting mugged!"

"W-What in the world?"

"…!"

The two of them jumped back out of surprise of the newcomer jumping in between them. Kit-Cat obviously screamed from his abrupt entrance and his strange appearance, the other guy didn't look all at frazzled by him.

 _'Weird, I've never met anyone, who wouldn't freak out over me. It's oddly refreshing…' Shaking his head, he shook the thought out as he bared his claws, uh, well, the claws on his non-stretched arm at the masked man, 'Nope stay focused…And try to squeeze some answers from him…'_

"Hey there…" Michael lowly growled.

"…"

"Hey there!" He shouted once he received silence as a response, "What did you think you were doing trying to steal from this nice girl in the middle of this crisis? Didn't your mother teach you any better?" It was one thing to even do it all but mugging during time like this was just stooping to a new low.

"…" The masked man sighed, he turned around and started walking away.

"Hey, I'm talking to y-!" Michael's words fell short as the masked man stopped near a dumpster to pull out a drooling unconscious man dressed in a dirtied red hoodie sporting a bloody welt on his cheek.

"If you're looking for answers then ask him." The masked man dumped the unconscious man to his feet along with the weapon.

"I see…so you not only tried to mug this girl, you also beat up some poor defenseless dude!?"

"He was far from defenseless, and I doubt carrying around a huge wad of twenty dollar bills is poor."

"Okay, then explain how you know the amount of cash he's carrying?"

"…Look, I only came here to settle some business with a target of mine, and before I completely lose his trail, I'd rather not get interrogated by some kid." The masked man soon returned to walking down the other end of the alleyway, not even sparing him a look, he simply waved, "God blessed."

"Nope, you're not going anywhere, guy!" Oh no, he wasn't just going to walk out of this without giving Michael some real answers, and without thinking, Michael threw his elongated arm after the masked man. Realizing this he had expected the attempt to fail spectacularly, but no, like elastic, his arm stretched out over a good ten feet to clasp onto the man's shoulder.

But before he could relish the moment, the masked man immediately grabbed the teen's stretched wrist and pulled it off with his bandaged arm.

"Kid, you even try to push me, and you'll find yourself having a bad time…" The masked man softly threatened.

"Hah, real scary. What? You so poor that you even have to steal some from the great Smiling Trash bag himself!" Michael laughed, but truth be told, he was having some difficulty pulling back his arm. It might be because he's fairly new to this sort of power, but either way this guy was strong. He could even feel his own wrist start to cramp up in pain.

"…" The masked man gave him one more glance before releasing the devilish teen's arm as it contracted itself back to the teen and roughly snapped itself back into place like a rubber band as the recoil caused Michael to fall flat on his back.

"Ouch…" Michael groaned as he looked up to see Caitlin cautiously walking past him as she looked out to towards the masked man already nearing the other exit of the alley.

"T-Thank you!" She timidly waved but only received a grunt from the strange man either from him immediately hopping onto his motorcycle, or just as a passive and silent 'your welcome'. Either way, he kicked on his engines and rode himself out of there, leaving a cloud of dirt to follow.

 _'Great, I let another bad guy get away. At least I think he was… Anyway, he was surprisingly strong, and…hard?' Yup, that man's grip definitely felt thick and weirdly cold. Michael rolled his arm as it was now back to normal, 'Must have snapped back to normal after he let go.' Well, at least that was one worry to cross off the list now onto another to cross right off._

Picking himself up, he was face to face with a frightened Caitlin who just now realized that she was alone with the devil like creature.

"O-Oh, h-h-hi there. T-Thanks for worrying, b-b-but you don't have to be mad at that man. He actually saved me fr-fr-from-!" Michael had to fight the urge not to facepalm as Caitlin slowly back away from him with each step.

"Okay, calm down, Kit-Cat. Take it easy and go at your own pace." Michael sighed as he lowered his distorted voice down to a calming tone.

"R-Right, sorry about tha-?" Caitlin paused, "Wait, did you just call me, Kit-Cat?"

 _'Welp, looks like I don't even have to beat around the bush at this point.' Michael let out a relieved sigh as he slowly returned back to looking like his usual normal self._

"Sure did, and thanks for noticing the hint, Kit-Cat." Michael dusted his superman shirt off despite the tears and burns on it.

Caitlin's eyes were wide but were no match for her gaped mouth as she was stunned at the sight.

"Michael, w-what? You-I don't understand…What happened? You were way up ahead where all of those explosions were! I thought something bad had happened…WHAT happened!? And how were you able to do that thing you did? Turning into that red thing and stretching your arms, and-and-!"

Okay, she sounded like she was on the verge of having a panic attack at this point, so calmingly, Michael placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled, "You look like you're doing fine, I hope." He was incredibly relieved to see her doing okay after faint like that, but he'd rather avoid answering all of those questions or else she'll be overwhelmed.

"Y-Yeah, I-I'm doing fine. Um, thanks for you know…" She was still shaken up, but her mannerisms was much more calm as she gestured to his jacket on her shoulder, "Taking care of me…"

"Hey, I promised." He chuckled.

 _'Which was almost broken if that guy wasn't there to save her…' He sadly thought, 'Next chance I get, I'll thank him.' Well, if he will ever get a chance like this once they get back to lab._

"Do you want to, um…?" She offered him back his jacket.

"Nah, you hold onto it. I'm not particularly cold after everything that's happened." Michael shrugged and held a hand out to the confused girl, "And I promise to explain everything to you, just let me handle something real quick…"

Walking over to the beaten red hooded robber, Michael grabbed the dropped gun and recognized the design by memory to be similar to his plasma knife. Testing out what it was, he points it at the ground to be safe much to Caitlin's confusion before firing a red beam of energy into the ground, leaving a carved smoky hole.

Looking back at a startled Caitlin, Michael quickly apologized before going back to identify the laser gun, which was some pretty high tech. Flipping it about in his hands for any clues like a registration code or even a company logo, he came out sort with no potential leads at all.

 _'Tch, just like the knife, there's no way to identify the source of where it came from.' He clicked his tongue out of annoyance, 'Well there is…'_

He hates to say it, but Kit-Cat basically brought someone with knowledge of the weaponry to him. If only the jerk were awake for him to question, but right now he needed to get Caitlin back to the lab safely.

"So, let's go back to the lab, I'll explain as much as I can during the walk there."

"But shouldn't we at least stay with everyone that's here? The paramedics just got here, and it may be safer to be with them…" Caitlin suggested.

"Kit-Cat, you're a one hundred percent safe with just me being here with you. Trust me no muggers will want to mess with this…" For a split second, he turned his facial features to that of his devil form briefly scaring Caitlin, who yelped out of fear.

"Whoops, sorry. Besides, we'd be better off at S.T.A.R. Labs right now, and I don't want to draw further attention to myself since I'm quite literally wearing the same clothes that I wore while saving people."

"I guess I see your logic there. So lead the way." And with that they were off.

Michael nodded at her to follow, but paused once Caitlin held out her wrist to him, "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing, I just thought that you were going to lead me like you did last time." Caitlin pulled back her wrist while her cheeks strangely tinged a slight pink.

"I thought I hurt you by doing that?" Michael asked, completely confused.

"Nope, I just thought it was weird before and…"

"So you want me do something weird to you?" He raised an eyebrow at that.

"N-No, I just…never mind…" Caitlin sighed, wistfully, "Let's just go."

"…You know, Kit-Cat, you're strange, but that's cool. C'mon!" Michael laughed it off and started walking with her in tow.

"Strange coming from someone turning into some sort of devil…" Thanks to his super hearing, he was able to catch that silent remark.

"I heard that…" Michael said.

"Really? Good for you." Caitlin smirked.

 _'Oh, she has that sass just like Aunt Kate after all.' Michael laughed, it may have just been a day, but he could see that a friendship was blossoming between the two of them. He just hopes his explanation won't be too much for her to handle._

"Say are we taking the gun with us?" Caitlin muttered cautiously as she stared at the weapon used to mug her.

"Oh, right this…" Remembering the weapon in his hands, Michael made quick work to destroy by tossing it to the ground and decimating it into ash with his fire breath. He wasn't going to get much out of the weapon anyway better to be safe and carry around the portable plasma knife.

"You can breath fire?" Caitlin looked at him with wide eyes of wonder.

"Yep, and apparently a lot more than I initially realized, like I said, we'll talk on the way to the la-."

 ***BEEP!* *BEEP!***

"Hold on…" Pulling out from his pocket his cell phone, Michael checked to see that it was his mother calling him, "Crap…" Putting the phone to his ear, he prepared himself to get his ear chewed off as he meekly whimpered, "H-Hello?"

 **["Where the fuck are you?"]**

 ***BEEP!***

That low venomous tone that seeped through the speaker sent chills down Michael's spine as he quickly hung up the phone. If she wasn't yelling, then he was damn sure that she was positively livid at this point.

"Was it your mom?" Clueless, Caitlin asked.

"Nope, wrong call, ehehe. Say, Kit-Cat, has anyone called you?" He needed to know just in case.

"Can't tell, my phone slipped out of my pocket and got caught in that whole earthquake fiasco." She pulled out her phone and showed its screen being so cracked open that she can close the destroyed device like a book.

"T-That's horrible, hey, are you hungry?"

"I was but after almost getting crushed by a car and being held at gunpoint, my appetite naturally went away." Caitlin rubbed her neck.

"That's no good, Kit-Cat, you can't let this experience effect your eating. You have to get your protein, helps your brain, helps you cope." Michael nervously laughed as he ran a bit ahead to lead her in a direction away from the lab, "That's why we'll just go to a McDonalds somewhere and make up for that Food Truck incident."

"Okay, but shouldn't we be getting back? My aunt and your mom might know that we're gone after all this time." Kit-Cat caught up to him and worriedly looked in the direction of S.T.A.R. Labs.

"No, just trust me, they're really preoccupied with their work. They don't even detect high magnitude earthquakes while they were in the development of a new experiment." That was a necessary phib because if they went back now then they would obviously, be preoccupied with screaming his ear and much worse if his mom and potentially Aunt Kate were that mad at him.

"Well, I suppose going out to eat wouldn't hurt. Plus, we can hang out and talk more about…what happened." Caitlin tiredly shrugged, "But wait won't the workers be surprised with how filthy we look?"

"Kit-Cat, we're in Los Angeles. Besides I highly doubt that a couple of minimum waged workers would complain about getting money from us." And just like that Michael goaded Caitlin to share in his last meal before returning back to his mother to experience his a punishment beyond death.

* * *

Ain't this just great, he was finally able to figure out Ronnie's 'Big Break' as soon as the news started that report of a bank robbery down in the Financial District. He was already in the area and had a full stomach after eating that leftover sandwich that he's been saving for the last few days. Chance was finally on his side today, but no, he decided to bend chance over and give it a real hard reaming.

He just had to be a non-crappy human being and save that carrot top from some asshole mugging her. The Scrounger angrily tapped on the throttle of his motorcycle as traffic started to pile up. It wasn't uncommon for this damned city, but with Ronnie causing that huge fucking racket, the police were busy directing cars to a much safer route away from the destroyed intersection.

Had to take his mask off otherwise the cops would suspect him of being in league with them, or some other petty shit. Give them a reason, and any cop would make a mountain of a mole hill. Compared to some of Gotham cops, the LAPD look like saints, but it doesn't detract from the fact that they were cops nonetheless.

 _'The trail must have grown cold at this point.' Scrounger pinched the bridge of his nose, 'There goes my plan of arriving back with an ice cream cake…' He was tired, he's been searching for any leads the whole week, but at least pocketed enough cash from that asshole to make it through the next 3 days. So, in a way, helping that 'I love Lucy' girl almost balanced out losing his target._

 **~My Little Pon-!~ *BEEP!***

"The fuck are you looking at?" Scrounger tossed a nearby car a dirty look after the driver tossed him a curious glance. After the nosy jerk rolled up his window, Scrounger groaned and opened his phone to check a new text message from _EX, his client._

 _'Great, this guy…' Scrounger sighed as he read the first message._

[Yo, its been a while. How goes the hunt?]

[Fine.] Scrounger texted, he didn't want to give too much away before he could finally get another solid lead. Playing it coy would be too obvious and playing dumb would only rile _EX_ up even further.

[Fine? How fine? On a scale of 1 to 10, tell me how fine your hunt is going.]

[…]

[No need for the silent treatment, I honestly want to know how your doing, pal. So, are you any closer to bagging the target?]

[I am.] Playing it straight and simple was gut wrenchingly tense especially when his pay on the line.

[I see. That's good…good…]

A moment passes before _EX_ texts back a message along with a picture.

"Dammit…" The bastard was watching the whole thing go down from the start.

The picture was taken from a high vantage point as it looked down onto the intersection a few moments before its destruction. Standing on the street were a pair of strangely dressed goons in masks, Scrounger quietly cursed to himself, one of them was obviously Ronnie. They looked to be transferring their cash to the back of a hot pink truck.

 _'Won't be hard to look for that piece of shit.' Scrounger thought, but what took him out of the loop was the appearance of the odd devil-like kid that he had seen just a couple of minutes ago, and he was breathing fire?_

[Now tell me, does this look _fine_ to you, Scrounger?]

[Look, I was preocupied, but with thisI ca actlly find him…] Scrounger rushed to text.

[Hey, hey, no need to panic, bud, I'm not mad. I just wanted to show you that I'm always keeping track just in case your starting to slack. I'm not gonna fire you, your way to valuable an asset for us to lose.] _EX_ texted.

 _'Then why are you-?' Before he could finish that thought, EX sent out another text._

[Heck this is simply just a warning to you, now that the police have Ronnie or whatever his alias is, in their sights, I just want to warn you that you won't be paid if they or anyone else turn him in. Is that clear?]

Scrounger's bandaged hand tightly clenched the handle to his Harley nearly ripping it off.

[Peachy.] Scrounger texted.

[Great, that's just wonderful because I'm pushing up the deadline.]

 _'What!?'_

[You only have until next Sunday to get the guy and bring him to the designated location if not then no pay for a while, and I mean a long while. If you get lazy then it reflects poorly on me too. No rest for the weary as they say. Now show me what you can do when the chips are down.] Suddenly _EX_ texts another message with a new picture attached.

[Oh, and before I leave you to your work, make sure to keep track of your competition. Wouldn't want to be outshone by a new guy showing so much potential, now would we? Ciao.] This time the picture focused on the devil kid spewing out fire.

"Son of a bitch…" It took all that Scrounger had not to just fling his bike into slow traffic ahead. _EX_ was always a manipulative prick, but he was going too far. At worse, he expected a pay cut, but now with the job being all or nothing, he'll sacrifice too much of his time on getting Ronnie.

He let out a sigh, "Guess I won't be sleeping much after this weekend." Going home was supposed to make him chipper, but now he's filled with dread and eventually it will become guilt after he sleeps through another day with no money and answers to placate any worries.

Taking a closer look at the devil kid in the picture, Scrounger bitterly deleted the image. It may have been or may not have been that kid's fault, and he won't make it personal, but next time. He'll be sure to take him out if he gives him an excuse to do so.

With traffic moving once more, Scrounger steadied his bike and drove it down the street and heading up towards the 66 California Highway ramp to home.

* * *

 **Next Chapter- A lone Robin takes flight**

* * *

 **Welp, I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter. What did you think because right now we're shifting focus to this Universe's very own Boy Wonder.**

 **Also, yes, Michael's still developing his powers, well, he re-learning to use the powers that he was essentially born with. Yeah, this is going to be a serious conflict that will arise between mother and son. Stay tuned not to miss any of it next time.**

 **Welp, I'm Out So Peace Out and have a blessed day.**


	6. A lone Robin takes flight (1)

**Chapter 6: A lone Robin takes flight (1)**

* * *

 ***SHATTER!***

 ***HONK!* *HONK!* *HONK!***

Another day, another sloppy attempt at Grand Theft Auto on the grimy streets of Gotham City. The sun hadn't even set yet and there were still crimes popping up all over the city like no man's business. Yes, of course, expecting anything less from a city filled with weapon's dealers, corrupt politicians, gang wars, and clinically insane psychopaths roaming the streets would naturally lead to having a short life as one of the city's unfortunate residents.

However, the rise in criminal activity during the day would normally be expected considering the city's vigilant caped crusader effectively dealt a staggering blow to the old-fashioned ways of organized crime. Though cutting the head of the hydra eventually led to two more heads taking its place in new unpredictable forms of felonies. Either way, the masked vigilante's message now plagued ALL malefactors that dared to walk the dark streets of Gotham: To fear the Batman.

It was a powerful reminder for any punk to think twice about causing any trouble in the Bat's city, but alas, that very message was a double-edged sword in many, MANY ways. Like for example, the two pinheads were being too obvious with their scheme of jacking a car.

And sadly, for the domino masked young man watching this from above, it wasn't the first crime of the day and it certainly wouldn't be the last either.

"Are you a freaking idiot, Louie?" The average looking thug looked at the much larger thug that just bashed in the red van's window.

"What? I got us in no problem, Jorge." Laughed the muscled thug.

"You didn't consider setting off the car alarm as a problem, meathead?"

"Err…I guess not…" The slow thug scratched his head.

"Dumbass, and I was this close to picking the lock too."

"Really, but you've been doing it for hours?"

"That's because lockpicking requires a delicate touch, idiot. Something you wouldn't know."

"Yeah, but then how do you even about this stuff in the first place, Jorge?"

"What the hell are you on about now?"

"I mean just the other day, you broke into Lenny's place just to get that lockpicking kit."

"So, Lenny owed me five bucks and I decided to claim some interest. Besides, having better tools just makes the job that easier."

"You see I get that, but then if you're so great at it then why did you break Lenny's window just to get it?" Louie scratched his head with that confused look on his face as he tried to examine Jorge's momentary blank expression.

"…Shut up, Louie."

"Okay, Jorge." Louie obediently nodded as his partner meticulously continued to pick the door's lock before he bitterly cursing at the confounded lock.

"Just unlock the door on your side of the car already will ya?"

"Sure thing, Jorge."

"Idiot…"

As the big lug pulled open the door, Jorge let out a tired groan but not before noticing the whispers and glances coming from most onlookers across the street. Burrowing his brow, he's quick to push aside his jacket to show them some incentive to mind their own business, and it worked. The car alarm making his ears ring was already grating on his nerves, he was not in the mood for anyone's bullshit.

"Nosy rats…" Jorge spat as he turned around and pulled the van's door handle, which was still locked, "Are you seriously having this much trouble with a freaking unlock button, Louie?"

"I'm afraid, Louie's a bit hung up with something at the moment."

"What the-!?" Startled by a sudden laughter coming from above, Jorge was quick to draw his gun and set his sights to the van's roof above. There he came face to face with a black domino masked young man wearing the all to hard to forgot costume of the Boy Wonder himself.

His black tights fittingly hugged his athletic build along with the short-sleeved black t-shirt worn underneath his red armored vest donning his signature yellow "R" insignia. Matching most of his look were his black ankle-high steel-toed boots, black gloves, black bladed gauntlets, and a traditional black cape with a yellow interior. Not to mention, his iconic yellow utility belt hanging onto his hips.

"Robin, the Boy Wonder? B-B-But I thought that the Bat was out of town!" Jorge staggered back as the masked teen skillfully flipped off the van's roof and over the thug, blocking of his escape.

Heavily sighing, Robin shook his spiky black haired head and said, "Okay just to clarify for you, I haven't been the Boy Wonder since I was nine and I'm not a package deal with the big guy. While the Old Man is off with the League, he naturally leaves the protection of this wonderful town in my capable hands."

 _'Albeit begrudgingly…' Robin bitterly thought as a recent unpleasant memory with mentor almost soured his mood. Thankfully, he had this pinhead to brighten the rest of his day._

"So, I'd suggest you avoid comparing me to you and your buddy." That earned him a gun barrel aimed straight at his chest.

"What the hell did you do to Louie?"

"I seem to recall saying, "I'm afraid, Louie's a bit hung up with something at the moment" a few seconds ago." The bird boy smirked.

"I don't get it. Tell me what happened to Louie or else!"

"Or else!" Robin mimicked Jorge, "That's what you sound like, and I already told you that he's already hung up at the moment."

"What?"

"He's hung up on something… "Hung up"?" Even through his mask, the visible disappointment from noticing the gun totting thug's sideway glances, "Hung?"

"…What's your angle here?" Jorge narrowed his eyes as his trigger finger twitched.

 _'Is this really going to be my last bust before Pre-Calc?' Robin shook his head and jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to the street light nearby._

Jorge's line of sight followed the Bird Boy's subtle pointing only to find a jaw dropping sight, "Louie?" It was his muscled partner in crime unconsciously tied up and hanging upside down by black wire. Jorge winced at the sight of the big nasty welt that formed across his lower face.

"I was wondering when you'd figure out, and here I was wondering if you being the brains in the operation was joke, Georgie Boy." The thug jumped as he just now realized that Robin was now leaning against the van next to him.

"How did y-!?" Jorge gasped.

"I walked over here while you weren't looking is all, no need to be so gobsmacked, man." Robin crossed his arms, "So how do you want this to go?" He looked up at the big lug swing about on the street light.

"I mean you can try to fight back, but you can make this so much easier for yourself if you'd just…" But before he could finish that thought, he was soon met with Jorge quickly aiming his weapon at him and decided to use that one good bullet of his.

 ***SPLAT!***

"The hell?" Sadly, it was his only delicious bullet that slipped out of its yellow peel.

"Pfft! You know that might have been the only thing I brought for lunch today but that was totally worth it. By the way…" Uncrossing his arms, Robin revealed the glock, "I also took this if that's alright with you." He didn't have to look as he expertly shucked out the gun's rounds and disassembled it.

 _'Three seconds, a new record.' The Boy Wonder smirked as he tossed the disassembled gun to the side, 'Seven years of practice really pays off.'_

Thankfully, the guy still hadn't learnt his lesson as he attempted to take a more physical crack at the masked teen by rearing back his fist to deliver a good old slug to the face. Robin's response was that of smug boredom as he yawned and stuck out his fist which infuriated Jorge to take that one step and lean in to giving the punch.

 ***WHAM!***

"Had a nice fall?" Robin joked as Jorge slipped on the smushed banana on the asphalt and landed right into his fist. It was quite the fall too since he heard the disgusting crack of the man's nose breaking. As soon as Jorge limply collapsed, Robin wasted no time to immediately tie the and handcuff him to the rear view mirror. One quick anonymous phone call to GCPD later, he was already grappling onto rooftops and jumping/somersaulting over each one in a rushed panic.

"Stopping a crime should feel like a reward, but I still can't shake off how disappointing that last one was!" Robin panted as he pushed himself to keep moving through the smog filled skies of the city. Tapping a button on his gauntlet, a portable computer hologram projected itself displaying case files, gadget designs and of course his homework for long nights. He was more focused on the time and his fears were confirmed since his next period of class was already beginning.

 ***RING!* *RING!***

Turning off the portable CPU, Robin quickly pulled out his cellphone from his utility belt and answered, "Hello?"

[Hey, Ritchie where are ya? I haven't seen you the whole break and class is about to start.] The all too familiar sound of his friend's Brooklyn accent filled his ears.

"Oh, hey, Harls, I decided to quickly go out to get some eats at Big Bang Burger and their line was long. You wouldn't believe my struggle just to even reach the end of it."

[What, so your telling me that you snuck out of school just to get a quick bite?]

"Yea…" Robin hesitated.

[Without me!?]

"…Uh…sorry?"

[You better be, but not as sorry as you'll be if you wind up missing the test.]

 _Pressing a button, Robin placed up the map to school on his phone, 'Fifteen minutes away.' He dreaded the thought of failing that math class, it was touch and go, if he got a grade then he would be set for the rest of the semester. However, if he failed then he would have to make more time making it up for the class and less time doing his "job" and he definitely couldn't have that._

 _Lost in thought, Robin's lips tightened, 'I don't want to give him any more ammunition to use on me.'_

[Hello, Ritchie?] Sang the voice on the other line.

"Look, Harls, I won't lie. I'm going to be late, but don't worry, I'll be sure to come up with the perfect excuse."

[Your gonna call and ask your Butler to make up an excuse?]

"Yes, wait, no! I'm going to lay on the old Grayson charm…"

[Oh, you mean be a kissass?]

"Kissass is a strong word, I prefer sycophant."

[So a kissass.]

"Yes, a kissass."

[Welp, Ritchie, I can't wait to see how you'll weasel your way out of this.] The echoing of the school's bell could be heard in the background, [Oops, class is about to start see you then!]

She hung up, leaving Robin to his thoughts.

 _'One more crime bust wouldn't hurt, I said. You'll have time to eat lunch, I said. You won't miss the big test, I said!' He really has to better coordinate schedule, but he wistfully sighed at the minor setback, 'Well, at least things should be looking up for me now.'_

 ***Thunk…***

"Crap…" He cursed, his thought got the best of him as tripped over the ledge of a rooftop and came hurtling down into an alley.

 ***THUD!* *SLAM!***

And to make matters worse, he crash landed into an open garbage dumpster. It looks like it would taken a while before things could properly start looking up.

"Pbbt! *COUGH!* Why!? *COUGH!* I didn't jinx it!" Robin cried as he pushed open the dumpster's lid and coughed up a fit before gagging from the horrid smell that coated his body, "God that's vile…urp…" Pulling himself out, he patted off the loose garbage clinging to him, but the smell still lingered.

"This might make the old charm difficult, but I'm sure it won't…mngh!" Despite trying to be optimistic, he still loudly gulped to suppress the urge to vomit, "Be that bad in class."

* * *

 ***Riiiiiiiiing~!***

 ***SLAM!***

"Thank god!" Taking a deep breath of fresh air, a student out of the many pouring out of the classroom rushed out to distance themselves from the putrid smelling range that was exuded from the tardy student himself, Dick Grayson.

The downtrodden young man's brown eyes were examining the yellow slip that his teacher had struggled to give him on account to him struggling to get past the smell. This was his second warning for being extremely late in the class as well as the others in different periods that had him to make a leave of absence for either "Family Business" or sudden "illnesses".

Soon enough the old excuses weren't going to work on his teachers anymore as he's been playing every card in his book of excuses for the past year and a half during his stay at Gotham City High School.

 _'Great, one more warning then I get detention.' He thought then bitterly joked, 'Wonder if I'll get a free ice cream sundae for getting a complete collection of these.'_

As soon as he snuck back on campus, he quickly changed into his civvies consisting of a white t-shirt, a blue zipped up hoodie under a black jacket over it, blue jeans and black running shoes. By putting so many layers over his suit, he deluded himself into thinking that the smell wouldn't be too obvious. Then he was told to sit in the back of the class near the windows while literally everyone was scooting their desks away from him. Well, almost everyone.

"Wow, the ol' Grayson Charm sure does get the job done based on how…"effective" it is." Walking up to his side was a young woman about his age, her long blond hair bouncing with each step while bound into a ponytail and her waggling eyebrows emphasizing her clear blue eyes behind her glassed spectacles. She wore a black and red checkered flannel top, black jeans and red sneakers.

"Haha, very funny, Harls. Plus, just to let you know the charm basically did the heavy lifting because this guy gets to retake the test on Friday by himself." Dick proudly pointed to himself.

"You sure it was just your charm, Ritchie? You sure it wasn't about how you smell like a dumpster cat? Or the fact that the teacher wanted to wait out the days it takes for you to wash that odor off your body. I'm pretty sure your leaning towards the latter, Ritchie Rich." Harley playfully tugged at his sleeves for further emphasis, "BTW, I'd avoid using cologne and invest all that Wayne money of yours into Tomato Juice and lots of it."

 _'Hard to do that after getting my allowance cut in half among other things…' Dick groaned and quickly wore a shit eating grin before Harleen could notice._

"Guess it pays to have family working in the Trash Collecting business."

"Ah, sanitation services and it actually pays daddy extremely well considering the hard work and the risks it takes to work on the streets in this stupid crap shack of a town." Harleen corrected.

"Now ain't that the truth…" Dick agreed and thought, _'And I'm basically out there doing my own work for free not that I'm complaining.'_ Being Robin is the best thing that could ever happen for him especially since…yeah, he couldn't have asked for a better path in life.

"So, you free after school or what, Ritchie?" She asked pulling out her phone.

"Nope, and like I said before I'm not interested in joining the Gymnastics team. I have a ton of things to do and besides that offer lacked any kind of subtlety." Dick rolled his eyes.

"Pfft! Don't flatter yourself, fly boy, a while ago I figured from your steady "late" track record in classes that you would be a huge load that we couldn't possibly afford to carry." Not much to his chagrin, she did cast a not subtle glance to his rear, "Though I do regret the opportunity to see you in a pair of tights."

 _'If only you'd knew, Harls…' Dick cheekily smiled._

"My, my, Ms. Quinzel are you trying to seduce me?" Dick chuckled.

"Just praising a good butt because it would be an injustice not to. Plus, don't get me wrong, Ritchie. Along with your nice ass, your cute face, those mysterious blue eyes of yours and not to mention that nice ass you'd be some princess' prince charming. As for me, well, I think of you as a brother at best."

"Oof, consider me wounded, milady." He playfully held his chest and gasped. The feeling was mutual, having a steady friendship was the best thing he could ask for and frankly he had no experience with the whole dating scene. As for the two role models in his life who do have the experience, he didn't bother asking. One was extremely old fashioned while the other still suffers from the occasional cat scratch here and there.

She giggled, "No offense, but my type usually leans towards guys who have wicked smiles."

* * *

 **In another time zone about 3 hours behind…**

* * *

 ***Achoo!* *SNIFF!***

"That's strange, the ACs not even on. Weird right, Mom?"

"…"

"Guess the mornings are getting colder as we're approaching October, eh?"

"…"

"Are you still mad?"

"…"

"Yeah, your still mad…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…I-I'm sorry…please forgive me…I love you…"

"…"

"Say something!"

* * *

 **Back to Gotham**

* * *

"Besides I only asked if you were free because me and Pam were actually going to meet the creators of the "Green Abomination" movie at GothCon this friday." Harleen showed Dick the movie's poster on her phone depicting some freakish looking plant-man thing emerging from a marsh.

"You mean that top selling horror film?" Dick rubbed his chin in thought, _'I heard about that movie, some guys on the web keep raving about it being the pinnacle of horror films compared to most nowadays.'_

"Yup, they've finally decided to make a sequel HERE in Gotham after 3 long years and I am not about to lose out on gaining the juicy details. Like if they're changing directors or even actors! If they even consider recasting Basil Karlo, the one and only Green Abomination then I wouldn't hesitate to get a riot started!" Harleen giddily bounced about.

"You really are passionate about this, huh? But wait, you're going with Pam!?" Dick asked with his eyes widening.

"Yup."

"To a GothCon convention that's centering around a Horror film?"

"Yes."

"Are we sure that we're talking about the same, Pamela Isley?" Dick didn't mean to come off as rude, but he didn't take Pamela as the type to be watching horror films heck even films with jump scares. To him, Pamela seemed so fragile and soft spoken but when it came to plants she was like a different person. It was like a kid talking about their day to their parents except with an unending barrage of plant facts.

"Hey, don't be dissing Pam. After days of begging her otherwise, we sat down together and watched the movie." Harleen smiled, "Though I did have to strap her down just to keep her from running during the gore bits."

"You are a twisted woman, Harls."

"Sue me." Harleen stuck out her tongue.

"And that still doesn't answer the question about why she's interested in going."

"Because the movie's protagonist plays an honest depiction of a botanist before changing into the Green Abomination. Pam wants to meet the creators and see if any had some real life experience along with question whether any plant life were really hurt during the film." Harleen explained.

"So it all comes back to the plants. Yep that makes sense." Dick chuckled at Pamela's one track mind.

"Sooo…you wanna join up or not?" The pair reached their individual classrooms just across the hall from one another.

"Pass." Dick shook his head.

"Figures." Harleen shrugged.

 ***Riiiing~!***

"Well, if you change your mind you know where to find me."

"In your dad's garbage truck." Dick grinned as he entered his classroom already hearing the groans and gags of his classmates reacting to his odor.

"It's a sanitation truck, jackass." Harleen slyly raised an eyebrow as she slammed the door behind her.

* * *

 ***THUD!***

The heavy thud of a black case about as long as the metal table it was thrown onto rang throughout the dark room as only one lamp emitted some light in the middle of the room.

"Everything there?" A deep voice asked.

"…" A black fingered orange glove stuck itself out under the light and made a beckoning gesture.

"Fine…" Growled the deep voice as a pale hand came into view and slapped a full stack of hundred bills into the gloved hand that pulled itself back into the darkness.

The sound of bills being flipped could be heard before a soothing, calm voice said, "As you requested, a state of the art jetpack with high performance speeds and handling and a combat mask equipped infrared vision."

Checking the contents, the pale hand opened the case and lightly touched each piece of tech before stopping their touch at a pair of sleek black gauntlets connected to the jet pack's fuel tank.

"And as you asked, we've integrated a plasma ray to interface with your jetpack. To quell your worries, we've made precautions to add in a separate fuel tank, so you won't run empty too soon."

"Nice, and if you don't mind me asking… Who exactly made these babies?" The deep voice whistled.

"I do mind. You have my permission to at least inform others who are well off enough to purchase these services, but this all remains confidential. I'll respect your privacy and you'll respect mine because if I even hear slip of my name pass through your lips. Well, lets just say that any recall won't just with your purchases. Are we clear?" The soothing voice eerily threatened.

"Of course, besides I've always been one to at least abhor treacherous mistrust." Closing the black case, the pale hand along with a red blistered scarred hand lifted the case off the table, "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, but now that I finally have what I need its about time I paid my favorite person in the world a warm visit."

"You'd forgive me if I don't jump at the opportunity to inquire about your life story. If I actually was curious, I would have asked how you even procured this amount of cash in under a month but considering how this is Gotham the conclusion is already easy to make." The soothe voice began to fade, "Try not to let the glory of robbing a few banks while the Bat is out of town get to your head. Later."

 ***SLAM!***

"…Bitch…" The deep voice growled as their trembling, scarred hand balls itself into a fist, "And a simple robbery? No, what I want will last more than some cash…"

* * *

Once the final bell rang, Dick immediately ran off to his base of operations.

A simple studio apartment above an abandoned warehouse in downtown Gotham. It certainly was spacious, definitely so considering he didn't take much stock in gathering all of his possessions during the move. He had a queen-sized bed, a bathroom and a kitchen; the essentials.

Pressing his hand on the pad next to the door, the electronic locks disengaged as he turned the rusty doorknob and entered his residence. The trip from school to here took about an hour; half an hour if he was in his Robin costume but that would only happen during emergencies.

The place's location was in some abandoned warehouse lot that hadn't been used in years, well, legally at least. The mob used to congregate here before the Batman's interference in their business caused them to take their work to more spread out and private locations until they were rooted out again for being complacent. So, it'd be pretty rare to find any thugs looming around the corner.

Even so, he took caution to avoid any lingering eyes that might follow him. Even he'd be ashamed of his stealth skills if a single citizen were to notice him.

The very moment that he entered the apartment, he let his backpack slide down his back to his heavily hit the floor and with his nose crinkled, he rushed through the large expanse of space in the apartment, stripping himself of his civvies and his suit worn underneath it.

Followed by a shower which almost washed most of the smell from his body, he changed into a black t-shirt and red sweatpants.

"Now that was refreshing…"

Roughly drying his spiky hair with a towel, he placed a hand on the large white wall in the empty expanse of the apartment, two secret compartments slowly opening. One of them held a glass case holding two mannequins modeled around his body type with one laid bare while the other sported a rather old and worn out Robin costume.

In contrast to his more recent costume, the color scheme for this one was considerably brighter with both the colors yellow and green. Not to mention his old pair of infamous green shorts.

Looking closer at the remnants of stitches on the old costume, Dick sighed, "I've sure been through a lot in this, but I won't say I regret changing my look. Looking that bright sure made it easy for criminals to use me as target practice, well, until Bruce swoops in when they're distracted…"

As his eyes lingered on the green shorts, he makes out the vertical stitching as his body visibly shudders upon reliving the memory. All that needed be said was that there was an incident with the Riddler on Wayne Enterprises, and from them on he decided to hang up the old trunks.

The young man questioned his sense of nostalgia every time he gazed upon his first costume design. This soon led to feel a bit homesick, but before it could fester, he quickly shakes it off to focus on snapping his current utility belt onto the empty mannequin along with placing his mask on it. As for the suit itself, well, he'll have to handwash it later since emerging from the second compartment was a medium sized Flat monitor with a keyboard attached to it.

Stepping in front of it, he stomps his feet twice before the wooden floor of the apartment below him rose up into a block to act as his seat.

"Now let's review what I've managed to gather this week." Cracking his knuckles, he quickly typed in his password and accessed the main page displaying the gold and black initials: "FG". On the corners of the screen were all files and documents either for school or for cases.

Moving the arrow over to click a file dubbed "Nocturnal Maulings AKA She-Bat". As soon as it opened, Dick felt his skin crawl as a litter of pictures detailing corpses with mauled necks and mangled faces popped up all over his screen.

Each victim was dangling from high places in the city's parks, rooftops and alleyways. Every now again, bodies were either found by GCPD investigating around or just popping up in public like the body that fell off a ten-story building and splattered into a restaurant's outer patio just the other day.

 _'Ugh, it hurts just to look. Makes it even worse knowing that Rebecca's the one doing this. I know that we had a few rough meetings at Wayne Enterprises, but I'd never wish this upon anyone. Documents from security state that Dr. Langstrom was authorized to enter his office only for his to get authorized again to enter about five minutes later.'_

 _Dick grimaced as he remembered the scene afterwards, 'Things took a turn for the worse since then. I won't pity her too much since she did make such a stupid choice, but she will have my condolences once she's turned back to normal.'_

He made sure to delete that _certain_ picture after Bruce sent him most of the evidence, after seeing the results of that tragedy firsthand, he'd rather not tarnish the image of the good doctor in his head.

"Let's move onto another case file that won't leave me nightmares…" He clicked on the file named "Penguin's Gunrunners(?)".

"There we are, the business of one of my least favorite crime lords in Gotham, Crump the Penguin." Dick laughed and closely looked over the files and photos, "And it looks like he was sending his enforcers to do one of my top five least favorite crimes, arms dealing with the unsavory types in town. Actually, it seems that something else is happening entirely…"

Photos depicting empty cases and cargo of guns along with evidenced photos of hooded ski masked men with either wet crimson gashes on their throats or a direct bullseye between their brows. It looked as if another party was sabotaging the Penguin's dealings.

"It can't have been another crime lord…" Dick rubbed his head in thought.

 _'It can't be Sionis because the whole city would be already be in the midst of another one of its infamous gang wars.' So that was one name cross off the list. 'Not the Joker since he's in Arkham and really isn't motivated to do much with the Old Man out of town.' Another crossed off name._

 _'And lastly Two-Face, he's also in Arkham after he and the Old Man stopped that huge drug operation of his, yeah, sometimes I wonder if he realizes that hinging all of his decisions on a coin might actually do more harm to his work.' Not that Dick was complaining, Dent's whole 50/50 shtick is a great lifesaver sometimes while also being a total pain in the ass as well._

"Besides, the M.O. seems way different than their methods…" Each thug that was killed had been cleanly cut and shot in such a bizarrely organized fashion for each crime scene, "Its looks like they were used as practice."

Whoever this was, they obviously have experience and the missing guns only added more to the threat that they may pose to the city. He'll have to keep an eye out for any further happenings surrounding this mystery.

"Now for the exact opposite of the case…" His mouse icon glossed over the files named "Croccy" and "BB-Cold Case" to stop and click the file titled "Fire Fright". And boy was the contents in that file frightening it was nowhere near as bad as the mauled photos, but literally seeing barbequed bodies lying about in burnt down warehouses and bars would be a close second.

 _'Another case of arson this week. The victims certainly weren't all saints, but they also weren't under the same boss. A few of Penguin's guys, a little of Black Mask's men along with some up and coming street gangs here and there.' Dick thought._

It certainly wasn't a vendetta, so it might have been for the pleasure of causing the fire. That would have been the easy answer and Dick wasn't one to deny that considering a crazed clown mobster gets his kick out of making everyone's life a living hell. While that was still on the table, he kept looking for more possible clues but the crime scene like the victims were torched and left barren.

Meaning, him and GCPD had to imagine what was even there in the first before concluding anything further. Such a frustrating mystery only made him more frustrated because he could definitely see his Old Man immediately figuring it out in under a minute.

He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin, "Perhaps it won't hurt to recheck the recent crime scene."

 ***BEEP!* *BEEP!***

"Ugh…"

Immediately glancing at the caller ID on his phone, Dick was quick to hang up. He wasn't in the mood for another back and forth right now.

* * *

"Yuck, I should have washed this before leaving." Robin gagged at the smell of his costume as he jumped onto another rooftop as the cool night wind brushed against his skin. Landing near the site of the crime, he made his way toward the burnt remains of what was once a one-story building as police tape wrapped itself around the perimeter.

"Aw, they wrapped it up in a pretty bow for me." He jumped off the roof's ledge and made his way across the tape to notice the white body outlines on the floor, "And they even spruced the place up too thanks guys…" He was grateful that he didn't have to smell burnt carcass, but at the same time, he was also sad that forensics might have been a bit thorough with their sweep of the scene.

Tapping a small button on his gauntlet, the portable computer on his arm began to do a quick scan of the room with help from him rotating about to capture the whole area. After completing the scan, a big fat "X" appeared on his screen.

"Just like last time…" Robin held his head down, "Except now I'm even more skeptical since the police already scrubbed the place clean. Damn, I should have just called in sick at school that day and made a second scan…" No bothering to get down about it now, Robin decided to take a different approach as he emerged past the yellow police tape.

 _'If the scene itself isn't yielding anything then maybe if I looked around the outside…' Walking around the building on the sidewalk and into a nearby alleyway, Robin stops mid-step as he felt something slightly crack and roll under his feet, 'Bingo…'_

Robin pulled back and recovered from under his foot, a small capsule filled with an amber fluid.

"Peculiar…" He tapped the button to his CPU to do a quick scan on the mystery capsule if it even had any significance to the case.

 ***BEEP!***

"Crap…" Robin's eyes widened as the screen projected a certain chemical formula: C3H5N3O9, AKA…

"Nitroglycerin…" His heart was beating a storm, he nearly crushed something this volatile, heck, any person walking around would have been sent to kingdom come had they came across it. Safely containing the capsule in one of his utility belt's capsules made to reduce any force that may damage or set off its contents.

"I'm definitely glad I came back. I need to contact the Commissioner to keep a lookout for any of these stray capsules laying around."

 ***BOOOOM!***

But before his immediate call could patch through, the unpleasant noise of a fulmination rang through the streets. In a flash, Robin grappled to the heights of rooftops and other structures; using the force of each grapple to increase the speed of his travels towards the explosion's source, the Gotham Strip, a stretch of casino hotels, performance venues, attractions and…circus acts.

 ***BOOOOOOM!* *BOOOOOOM!* *BOOOOOOM!***

 _'Nope, focus! Robin is here to save the day! Grayson can curl up in a ball later.' Robin pushed the swelling grief in his chest down as his expression hardened, 'Now any criminal willing to stir trouble there would have to be pretty ballsy considering that place is lit up like a Christmas tree. The cops would automatically see you in plain sight, and if its not on the outside, then it being in one of hotels will make things even more complicated.'_

The strip was mostly a place for tourists or anyone wealthy enough to enjoy themselves in the city as rare as that is, but trouble would still rear its ugly head there from time to time in the form of a friendly mafia game of cards going awry. If there were actual explosions then he was sure to expect an all out fight between some gangs and the police.

But he has been wrong before since there were indeed burning police cruisers, cabs, carts and destroyed marble statues along police scrambling about on the streets trying to escort citizens to safety, but no signs of any gangs shooting their bullets or rocket launchers all willy-nilly.

Looking over the edge of the building, Robin muttered, "What's the big idea…?"

A shrill shriek and horrified yell then reached his ears prompting the masked teen to look up at one of the nearby hotels looming over the desolated roads. Among the many windows there was one that was shattered that kept emitting a fierce rapid flash of yellow light from the room and with each flash the panicked screams grew.

"That's the big idea…" Backing up, Robin examined the clear distance as he took a deep breath. Then as he finally steeled himself, he took off and vaulted off from the rooftop as gravity pulled him down toward the clean streets of the Strip. Too early and he fails to get enough momentum; too late and well, he'll be eat the pavement. So, it'll have to be perfect.

"…!" He strained his shoulders as he forcibly grabbed the edges of his cape and with one straightening tug, the flowing fabric grew rigid as it caught the harsh winds of his fall to carry him up the building.

"…our fault!" The aggressive shouting reached his ears but was too faint over the harsh winds.

But just in the nick of time, he finally reached the shattered window to find some guy dressed in black and yellow armor wearing some backpack pointing some kind of arm gun at a man and woman. Whipping out his grappling gun, he quickly shot it to wrap around the armored individual's arm and pull it back while also pulling himself into the room. The armored assaulter gasped as his redirected weapon shot a laser beam right through the side of the building.

"Your-!"

"Robin, the _Teen_ Wonder!"

 ***CRACK!***

Using the momentum to pull himself in, Robin delivered a swift heel kick to the armored assaulter's red eyed helmet sending him crashing into through the room's bathroom door. "Emphasis on the Teen part by the way." Taking a quick scan of the area, he noticed the steam coming from the wall that was just blasted along with many others that desecrated the luxurious suite that he found himself in.

Turning his attention back to the victims, he noticed the tuxedo wearing man clutching a cauterized wound on his shoulder.

"Agh!" The black haired man inhaled sharply as his brown eyes winced at the pain.

"Karlo!" Tearfully cried a spectacled red headed woman dressed in a ruined purple gown quickly ran to his side and tore off a piece of her dress to cover the man's injury.

 _'Karlo? As in Basil Karlo that famous actor that Harls likes?' Robin questioned the sheer coincidence of running into the guy but focused his attention on the grumblings of the assailant picking himself up and out of the bathroom._

"Are you okay?" He helped the woman pick up the injured Basil Karlo and received a breathless nod from the two of them, "Good, good… Now I want you two to go downstairs and let the police take care of you, okay?" He immediately pulled out a pulled birdarang and threw it across the room at the nozzle of the armored man's ray gun.

"You little…!" The armored man angrily growled as he tugged off the projectile and threw it to the ground before smashing it under his heel.

"Hey, those don't grow on trees!" Literally, it costs a ton of money just to make them and he's already running low on his allowance funds as is.

Apparently, the assailant didn't much care for words as he immediately fired another ray at the three of them. Thankfully, Robin was able to push all of them out of the way as the beam bisected an artistic granite table.

Shoving them to the door, Robin pushed the pair out screaming, "Just go, I'll handle this!"

"T-Thank you…" The bespectacled woman muttered as she gave the armored assailant a downtrodden glance before shutting the door.

"Grrrrrgh!" Frustration laced the black and yellow assailant as they focused their sights on the door and aimed their weapon to the wall as if seeing through it. But before he could fire, he was reminded of the grappling rope pulling at his arm.

"Forgetting someone?" Robin grasped the rope and leaned back, "You know, I'm starting to question if your mad about them not giving you a tip for room service!"

The armored man struggled to reclaim his arm through he tough material of the line and quickly made use of the other arm's ray gun to burn through it and send Robin reeling back some. It was the perfect chance to fry the kid as he prepared to fire another beam.

"I mean, I understand where your coming from since I know hotel service can be a pain of an occupation to have! But again when you see the crap that guests have to put up with; like not having the ability to use fridges stocked with hotel products, expensive room service meals, and expensive channels! Seems pretty fair in a way, huh? So what do you think?"

"Shut up!" Looks like he finally starting to wear out the guy.

"Only if you say please!" Robin laughed.

"Fuck you!"

 _'They never say please…' Robin thought._

The masked teen quipped as he reached into his utility belt and tossed 3 chirping discs at armored man just as he fired his beam. As soon as the projectile made contact with the attack, they explode in pieces as the beam shot itself at the Teen Wonder.

"Alley-oop!" Planting his hands on the ground as he fell back, Robin skillfully performed a series of backflips as the beam continued to follow him. Just as he was about to running out of room, he pushed himself off the ground, planted his feet on the wall and launched himself at the armored man.

 ***FWISH!***

 _'Ah, close…too close…' The fringe of his hair got burned as he deftly avoided the beam after him._

Reaching for his utility belt once more, he pulled out his most trusty tool.

 ***CLICK!***

"Hyaaah!"

 ***WHAAAAAM!* *CRACK!***

Swinging his shoulders back, the teen equipped himself with his collapsible bo staff and deftly struck the armored man's yellow helmet. The blow may not have done much to injure the man, but it certainly did hinder him, and that helmet of his was showing the signs of cracking around the lenses.

 _'If the head won't be enough then body will just have to do.' Spinning the bo staff between his fingers, Robin readied himself in a stance to react to whatever move his foe makes._

"…Grr…" Lowly growling after feeling the crack on his helmet, the assailant pointed his ray gun at Robin and began charging it up.

The two stood in silence waiting for the other to make a move. This tense moment gave Robin the time he needed to think.

 _'Looks like I might have found my arsonistic perp…probably…' Robin thought as he was quick to look around the room but not before focusing his sights back on his opponent each time his eyes lingered away. The heat rays didn't match the causes of deaths or were seen leaving any marks on the crime scenes, but it was a close comparison nonetheless._

"Okay spill it are yo-!'

"Dammit…"

Just as the armored man's ray gun was at full power to fire, he moved his head to the door and angrily cursed to himself. Before Robin could question the strange behavior, the heavy thud of the suite's door being kicked down reached his ears as a whole squad of GCPD broke into the room.

"Put your hands up now!" All guns were raised and aimed at the heat ray wielding assailant.

"…Kid…" Though it was hard to tell, Robin could visibly feel the man's heated glare through their helmet, "Stay out of my way…"

In a rush, the black and yellow assaulter pulled something out of his yellow belt as he made a run for the windowless opening in the suite while the police opened fire on him. Robin made sure to get out of the line of fire but noticed something being thrown into the room just as the helmeted individual jumped out of the building.

 _'Crap…' Robin's eyes widened._

"He jumped?" One of the police officers gasped as they attempted to see the aftermath by approaching the window, but stopped once Robin's voice reached a pitch that was high enough to translate the severity of the situation.

"Get out! NOW!"

 ***Beep!***

 ***KaBoooooooooooom!***

Smoke filled the suite and hallway of the hotel's floor as a big explosion engulfed the entirety of the room in the flames. Lowering the protection of his flame retardant cape, Robin coughed up a fit and sharply inhaled a breath of air after being sent flying through the room's wall and into the hallway.

"Argh! *COUGH!* *COUGH!* Is everyone…okay?" The blood dripping off his cut lip dripped down his fallen jaw as he looked around what remained of the room with his eyes as wide as saucers. He cared little about the destruction, the lives of the officers took more precedence. He limped his way back into the room and checked on the first cop that was close enough.

"Hey, come on, your okay…please be okay…" He wheezed as he pressed middle and index finger on their neck, "…" It was faint, but they still had a pulse.

 ***Bzzzzzzzzz~!***

 _'He has a jetpack!?' Robin gritted his teeth._

His eyes trained itself through the huge hole in the ruined suite and at the hovering armored man pointing his heat ray at him. The fiend had the perfect shot, the teen was still reeling from that blast and wasn't going to carry out the officer in his arms let alone leave of the other officers to get shot during the attempt.

But no, he lowered his weapon and threatened, "Last chance, keep your nose out of my shit, kid or **else…"** Flashing brightly, the helmeted individual took off into the night sky leaving a streak yellow light in his wake.

Lowering the injured officer on his back, Robin picked himself up and stared off into sky. Fists clenched, and his gaze hardening, Robin glared through the flame and body filled suite as he growled through clenched teeth,

 **"Never."**

* * *

 **Next Chapter: A lone Robin takes flight (2)**

* * *

 **Well, I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter! I really tried to make this version of Robin as accurate and original for this story as I can. So, I took inspiration from another hero to help me get a sort of good template to write for the character. By the way, if there was a voice actor for him, Dick Grayson would be voiced by Josh Keaton. While Michael would be voiced by Seth Green.**

 **So this Robin is working alone in Gotham while Batman is off on Justice League business if it wasn't obvious in the story. So, yeah, the Justice League already exist so expect them in the distant future.**

 **Welp, I certainly manage to fix up some future storylines while also introducing this story's Halreen Quinzel.**

 **Now onto making the next part before continuing with Michael's side of the story.**


End file.
